No Fury Like a Woman Scorned
by DeYi
Summary: Thruda is half dwarf and half wizard. She was raised without her father, and her dwarf mother taught her to hate magic. Thruda and Thorin were in love, but he cheated on her. Now she's called by Gandalf the Grey to take back her homeland, but will her hatred for Thorin get in the way and will her personal vow against magic possibly be the death of her and the Company? Thorin x OC
1. Prologue

Thruda of Erebor lived with her stepfather Danlin, her mother Arabella, and her half- brother Sharin on the Lonely Mountain for her entire childhood. Even though Thruda asked, Arabella would never say anything about Thruda's father, only telling her that he was a very powerful wizard. Eventually, out of annoyance, she gave Thruda an old diary of his, but it was written in a different language, so Thruda couldn't read it. Still, it became one of her most prized possessions. Often Thruda though of him and wondered if he knew that she was living on Erebor and if he wanted her to live with him.

Arabella told her-often angrily- to be content with the family she had. Danlin was a general of King Thror's mighty army, Sharin was a fine blacksmith, and everyone knew Arabella by her marvelous cooking. They lived richly, and Thruda was a pampered princess. She should have been happy. But she wasn't.

Thruda's real father had passed on some of his magical powers to her. She made things happen unexpectedly using magic that she didn't know how to control. Arabella, however, hated magic because she felt that it was unnatural and didn't want Thruda to be learned in the magical arts. She taught Thruda the same, so Thruda hated the wizard part of herself and tried to embrace the dwarf. But during life-threatening situations, her magic sometimes escaped her, and she could control it if she wanted (even though she never did).

She didn't look much like her father. She had her mother's breathtaking beauty, figure, and wavy black hair. The only thing she didn't get from her mom were her eyes... somewhat. Most of the time, they were Arabella's gorgeous emerald green, but when Thruda was in a mad/ murderous mood or using her magic, they turned into cat eyes. Her pupils were vertical black lines and the whites (well, they technically weren't white any more) were a gorgeous red/orange color. She never figured out why it happened, but she assumed it had something to do with her father's powers.

When Thruda was old enough, her parents started taking her to King Thror's parties. And that was where she first laid eyes on Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. He was three years older than her, but they had the same likes and dislikes. She admired his leadership and pride, and he enjoyed her sarcastic sense of humor, intelligence, and independence. During that first party, they were with each other the whole time. After a few years, they were best friends and spent all their time together.

Around that time, Thruda started working. Danlin was able to get her a job in the army as a bowman. She excelled with the bow, and soon she was moved into active duty. She was assigned to troops that were all the way on the border of Greenwood. Thorin and Thruda were out of touch for a few years. Those were the years that she grew up during; she killed people. She enjoyed the sport of it and her skill with the bow.

Then, a few years later, she was moved onto the king's personal troops. That meant that she was going back to the Lonely Mountain; she was going to see Thorin again.

When she got back, it seemed like he was avoiding her. He didn't make an effort to see her, and when she saw him when she was on duty, he seemed indifferent to her. Then, he came to her house one day, acting like a nervous wreck. After a few minutes of Thruda pestering him, Thorin admitted that he was in love with her and asked to court her. Thruda realized that she had been in love with Thorin since the first party that they saw each other at. She agreed to the few years of happiness that he could give her, even though she knew full well that they could never get married because Thorin was a prince and she was just a solider.

For three years, they were happy. He gave her many gifts, like his dead grandmother's sword and a special necklace that was traditionally given to the heir's love. Then Thorin's grandfather wanted him to marry someone. A princess from a foreign land. Her name was Susan, and she was a human. Thorin and Thruda talked about it and decided to keep dating in secret. He seemed happy with Thruda, and he didn't seem to want to have anything to do with Susan.

Then Thruda walked in on them kissing one day.

It was the end of their relationship. She started dating new boys. They didn't have the same thing that Thorin had, that mix of leadership, caring, and pride. Usually she broke up with them, not feeling the happiness that she had felt with Thorin. She had stopped attending the king's parties. She couldn't bear to see Thorin again, but after a few weeks, the king ordered her to attend. She went with a group of friends, and she didn't talk to Thorin at all. She could tell that he was trying to find an opening for him to take her somewhere alone, but she purposefully was with one of her friends the whole time so that he couldn't approach her.

Then Smaug came and ruined her life even more.

Her family had been called by the king to the castle, but that was her day off. She was alone in the house, but when she heard news of a dragon in the air, she hurried to the castle. The second she had arrived, Thror told her to escort Thorin out of the castle. She brought him outside, hurrying past troops and fleeing civilians. She didn't have time to look for her family, but she hoped that they had made it out of the castle before the dragon attacked.

By the time she and Thorin were out of the castle, the dragon was attacking. They watched from a distance as the dragon set fire to the castle and destroy what had been their home for their whole lives.

Eventually, the last people had come out of the castle. Her family was not with them.

She wanted to go back into the castle and find them. They would be alive. They had to be. She knew that they could still be alive.

Thorin kept her back. He didn't want her to die. He had to wrap his arms around her waist to keep her back, and even then, she struggled. He remembered, months ago, when she had craved his embrace. Now she wanted to get away from him. He knew that she would never forgive him, but he wanted her to be safe. He knew that her cries for her family would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The surviving dwarves left the mountain, driven out by Smaug. They scattered throughout Middle-Earth. Thruda had a harder time than the rest of the dwarves. Since they were all guy dwarves, they were taken somewhat seriously. However, Thruda, as a girl, was taken as a joke and sent away. She was forced to turn to the musical arts, since she knew a little bit of dwarf music. She was forced to preform for humans, Elves, more dwarves... basically everybody. After all that, she hardly had enough money to get by.  
She lived a wandering life, not wanting to go live with Thorin and the other dwarves in the Blue Mountains. When she got money, it was instantly used on food and paying for her stay at whatever inn she was in at the time. Since Thruda didn't want anybody asking her about Erebor, she kept her background secret and lived as privately as she could. That eventually turned into a paranoia of sorts, so she wiped her tracks every time she got to a town and every time she left.

But then Gandalf came.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: I originally followed the plot of the book when I wrote this, but then I decided that the movie had more action so I kinda took parts from the book and the movie. The dialogue is also my own. Just a warning!

Thruda was staying in the Prancing Pony (an inn) in Bree-Land. She had just finished up a performance in the inn when a man in long gray robes, and long white beard and hair approached her.

"Thruda at your service," she said, bowing politely while wondering what this strange man had to say to her.

The man smiled. "Gandalf the Grey at yours," he said. Her eyes widened; her father had been a wizard, and she had heard that Gandalf was a wizard. "No, I am not your father, Thruda," he told her, reading her thoughts. "But I would like a private word. Do you mind?"

"Of course not. Why don't you come into my room?" she suggested. He followed her out of the tavern and into her room, which was one of the smaller ones because she didn't have that much money. "I'm sorry that it's a mess. I didn't know that I was going to have guests."

Gandalf gave her an analyzing look. "Yes, you did," he said. "You just chose to ignore your magical powers.

Thruda frowned. "I'm sorry. How do you know that I'm half wizard?" she asked warily.

The wizard just made a small hand gesture, like, _it doesn't matter_. "I can tell the difference between a dwarf or a half dwarf, half wizard," he answered. "But that's not why I'm here. I need to talk to your dwarf side right now. I am gathering the rest of the surviving dwarves from Erebor. We're going to get your gold back." She was speechless, but Gandalf didn't seem to realize. He laughed humorlessly. "It took a long time for me to track you down, Thruda. You hide very well."

Honestly, she didn't care about that. "Who else is coming?" she asked, her mind already thinking of Erebor's vast wealth. It could be theirs again.  
After they slayed a dragon.  
No biggie.

"Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur." He paused, glancing at her. "As well as Thorin."

Her eyes narrowed. "No," she said automatically. "I'm not going anywhere near Thorin. Apparently you know why. You know, Gandalf, how do you know all this stuff?"

He didn't answer. "You will get a fifteenth share of King Thror's gold," he reminded her. "You could use that money, apparently." He sincerely hoped that she would come; he needed her powers, and it had taken him a lot to convince Thorin to allow him to just talk to her.

"Wait, fifteenth? You only talked about fourteen dwarves, including me," Thruda said.

"You need a burglar. I've found a hobbit that would fit that role," Gandalf told her. "Also, fifteen is recently being considered a lucky number instead of fourteen."

Thruda held up her hand, gesturing for him to stop. She didn't care about lucky numbers. "A hobbit?" Thruda demanded. "Is this a joke? Hobbits aren't what we need if we are to take a castle."

"You will need Bilbo Baggins eventually," he reassured the dwarf. "His mother was a Took."

"Tooks are okay. But he's a Baggins! They're normal hobbits, and we don't need people like hobbits on this quest!" Thruda protested.

He stood up. "It sounds to me as if you are coming. Come tomorrow to the Shire and find a hobbit hole called Bag End. I will mark the door so that you know which one it is."

"What? Wait- what? You just decided for me?" Thruda shouted after him as he closed the door behind him. She frowned, deciding not to go to Bag End and the Shire tomorrow.

The next day, Thruda woke up and started packing her stuff. She left the inn, paying for her stay. Then, before she fully realized what she was doing, she headed out for the Shire at a rapid pace.

It took her until tea time to reach the Shire. When she got there, she peered at hobbit holes, looking for a marked door. She couldn't find one until she got to a recently painted door. There was a glowing blue mark on it, and she assumed that this was the door that Gandalf was talking about. She walked up to the door and knocked.

A flustered, chubby hobbit opened the door. "I suppose you're another dwarf. Just come in, come in, and no, I don't want your service," he snapped. She stepped in with a raised eyebrow, looking around the hobbit hole. It was a neat, cozy type of room that you normally expect from hobbits. However, his coat rack had nine coats of different colors and were very dirty. Thruda assumed that they belonged to the other dwarves, considering that it seemed that the hobbit had some dwarves in his home. "You're a girl!" the hobbit exclaimed suddenly. "Bilbo Baggins, at your service! I don't meant to be rude, but where's your beard?"

She smiled. "Thruda at your service," she said, hanging her black cloak up with the rest of the dwarves'. "And I decided that I wanted to be slightly different than the rest of the girls."

He showed her to the dining room, slightly intimidated by her but also slightly curious, where a few dwarves were already sitting around the table. "Dwalin, Balin!" Thruda cried, her eyes a nice green shade. "Nori, Dori, Ori! Oin, Gloin!" She gave them hugs as she said their names, which they all returned. All of them besides Ori and two dwarves who she had never seen before had been born on the Mountain, so she knew them. The only reason she knew Ori was that Nori had invited her to their house for some time a few years ago.

"Thruda!" Dwalin exclaimed. Even though Dwalin was gruff to most people, he approved of Thruda, especially since she was a warrior like him. Dwalin and Thruda were like brother and sister. However, Dwalin wasn't very protective of her, understanding how she would do what she wanted despite others. Thruda was grateful that he let her do her own thing. "How have you been?"

She shrugged. "I'm getting by," she told him. "What about you?"

"We all are," Balin said, observing Thruda. He hadn't seen her for a while, and she seemed to have changed her look during those few years. She was wearing black leggings (despite it being around the time of spring/summer) that were slightly ripped around the knees (probably on purpose) and a black leather jacket. The only thing that wasn't black was the bottom bit of her shirt (which was blood red) sticking out from underneath the jacket. Balin remembered when she had worn girly frocks and wore her hair in either double braids or pigtails as a little girl.

That had been a long time ago. "It's a tough life." He glanced at her face. "But you've hardly seemed to have aged."

Thruda laughed. "Must be my wizard genes," she guessed. "After all, who knows how long wizards can live?" Then she turned to the two younger dwarves. Somehow she knew their names; Fili and Kili, and they were the nephews of Thorin. She realized why she hadn't seen them before; she wouldn't have wanted to go near Thorin's house. "Thruda at your service," she told them. "I'm assuming you are Fili and Kili?"

They grinned at each other. "There's a dwarf I'd like to know better," Kili whispered to Fili, who grinned. To Thruda, he said, "Yeah, we're the nephews of Thorin. Next in line to the throne."

"No, I'm next in line, because I'm a minute older than you," Fili reminded him.

Kili glared. "No, I'm older, you idiot," he snapped. They both lunged at each other and started fighting, rolling around on the ground and bumping into everything.

Bilbo looked distressed when Thruda turned to glance at him. "I'm sorry, sirs, but I'm rather fond of that table, you see. It's an antique, so I would prefer it whole and unscratched by the end of this... disagreement?" he said, making it sound like a question.

"Don't worry, Bilbo, I got this," Thruda reassured him. She walked up to the dwarves, grabbed them each by the collar, and lifted them up in the air. They were now her whole wingspan away from each other and started cursing from their sudden change in location. "Stop it, you two!" Bilbo looked horrified.

They kept struggling. "Let me have a go at him!" Fili exclaimed. He tried to twist free, causing his elbow to break a wooden pantry behind him.

She turned to Bilbo. "Was that cabinet important?" she asked. He nodded, looking rather pale. "Sorry about that, then." She banged their heads together and dropped them. "Shut up, both of you."  
Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Nori, Dori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, and Thruda played some dwarf folk music together. She had shown them her guitar, which was new and had cost and arm and a leg to buy. They were shocked by how much she had improved since they had last seen her in Erebor. Of course, she had practiced guitar because that was now her career, which was her main source of money.

Fili played the wrong note, and she cut everyone off. "From measure thirty-five. Fili, get that note right," she said. We started again, and after a few more minutes, Fili messed up again. Thruda stopped again. "From measure thirty-five again," Thruda told them. Once again, he messed up at the same measure.

Before Thruda could reprimand him, Bilbo burst out angrily, "You're ruining a perfect song!" The dwarves looked at each other and laughed good-naturedly at the hobbit. He blushed and crossed his arms, which caused them to laugh even harder.

Suddenly there was another knock on the door. Bilbo jumped up and started muttering under his breath again and walked off to the door. The dwarves started playing again, and, as predicted, Fili messed up for a fourth time.

" _You're ruining a perfect song_!" Kili cried out, imitating their host. They cracked up again, and Thruda was reminded of hanging around with family.

Meanwhile, Bilbo had thrown open his door with a cross look on his face. "If there are even more dwarves here..." he said, then stopped when he saw the people who were standing in front of his door.

"Bofur at your service," one said, pushing past Bilbo and hanging his hood up. "He's Bifur, doesn't talk in the common tongue," Bofur told him, pointing to one of his brothers who was also hanging his hood up.

"Bombur at your service," the next one said, also placing his hood on the rack.

Two other people entered together. The first person Bilbo saw was one that he had seen a few hours ago and had ended up getting him up more riled than he had been when Lobelia had tried to steal his silver spoons. "Gandalf, what is going on here?" he demanded. "I have dwarves coming into my house without invitation and destroying my belongings!"

Gandalf cut off Bilbo before he could start going on and on about the bad habits of dwarves. "It all will be explained after a good, hearty meal," he said. "Meanwhile, I'd like to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield." Thorin gave him a curt nod but looked like he was sizing Bilbo up. For what, Bilbo couldn't imagine.

Thruda and the rest of the dwarves were still laughing when Bilbo came back into the dining room with the four dwarves and Gandalf. "Gandalf!" Thruda cried, hugging him with a broad smile on her face. "Bifur! Bofur! Bombur!" She hugged them as well. Then she saw the fourth dwarf, and the smile dropped from her face, as well as the joy. Her eyes probably turned cat at that moment, and she was pretty sure they would be stuck that way for a while. "Thorin." She gave him a nod of her head.

"Thruda," he said, returning her nod. He didn't seem fazed by Thruda's coldness. "Mister Baggins, I would like some red wine." The others cashed their orders, and Bilbo grumpily walked off. When he came back with the drinks, some of the dwarves (including Thruda, Fili, and Kili, who had bonded pretty well (the other dwarves already thought of them as the pranksters of the group)) pushed their way into the food storage room and started grabbing the nearest things. The expression on Bilbo's face was priceless.

They feasted on the hobbit's food, talking together like a family. Thruda did her best to ignore Thorin and not comment on his sentences or answer his questions. He noticed and didn't seem upset about it.

Once, he walked past her seat to get some food on her side and stumbled. His hand caught on the table next to her, and when he took it off and kept walking, there was a note there. She opened it and read it. " _I see that you still wear the necklace and use the sword,"_ Thorin had written.

Thruda grabbed a quill and wrote her reply on the back of the same paper. " _They are symbols of Erebor. Any passing dwarf would recognize me for who and what I am. That is the only reason I wear them, not for anything else_ ," she scribbled back. She stood up and walked past his chair, brushing against his arm as she went past. He picked up the note and read it quickly.

After a few seconds, she got another note rolled from his side of the table to hers. " _Is that so?_ " he asked. She gave him a pointed look and nodded. He gestured for her to roll the paper back, and she did. In another second, she got his response. " _As a skilled bowman, you have many medals, awards, and prizes that would also identify you as a former citizen of Erebor. Why choose the ones that I had given you_?"

" _Because they are the least notable of all of my possessions that would mark me from the Lonely Mountain,"_ she told him, aggravated. She rolled it back under the table, and he soon rolled it back.

She read his response. " _They are notable to anyone who had studied dwarf lore,"_ he said. She crumpled the paper and tossed it out, causing him to smile slightly and shake his head. Thruda glared.

Fili nudged her. "Why are you staring daggers at Uncle?" he asked. Thruda ignored him.

Then he let out a big burp, and Thruda started laughing. "Burping contest, everyone!" she shouted, and as one, the dwarves (besides Thorin) took a big gulp of wine and burped. Kili's was louder, but Thruda's was longer, and they got into an argument about who won. Balin suggested an arm wrestling competition, so after a few minutes' of concentration, Thruda emerged the victor.

"That's my girl!" a slightly drunk Dwalin exclaimed, throwing an arm around Thruda's shoulders and taking a big swig of wine.

Ori pushed forward. "I never thought a girl would win a burping contest!" he piped up. "Especially against Kili."

Kili groaned. "Don't poke at my already ruined pride, Ori," he said jokingly. Thruda rolled her eyes and poked him in the ribs, causing him to poke her back, and they started a vicious poking competition.

"Now to clear up!" Thorin exclaimed, causing Thruda and Kili to stop poking each other. Soon they were grabbing dishes and piling them up. Thorin, who was too important for that kind of work (or so he thought) sat on the side with Gandalf. Thruda was glad that she didn't need to work with him to clean up the dishes.

Fili grabbed a plate and tossed it to Kili, who kicked it towards Thruda, who caught it out of the air and threw it at Dori. Bilbo instantly jumped up and started trying to tell them to put his mother's Seeing him running around frantically gave Thruda an idea for a song, which she started singing out loud. " _Chip the glasses and crack the plates! Blunt the knives and bend the forks! That's what Bilbo Baggins hates- Smash the bottles and burn the corks!"_

They got to the sink and started passing the dishes to the person washing. When he was done with washing a dish, he would pass it to the drier, who then passed it to the stacker. After a few more lines, the rest of the dwarves came in. " _Cut the cloth and tread on the fat! Pour the milk on the pantry floor! Leave the bones on the bedroom mat! Splash the wine on every door!_

 _"Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl; Pound them up with a thumping pole; And when you've finished if any are whole, Send them down the hall to roll!"_

Soon they were almost done with the washing. She felt the last dish leave her hands and grinned at Bilbo's terrified expression. " _That's what Bilbo Baggins hates! So carefully! Carefully with the plates!"_ Bilbo glanced at his dishes, which were stacked neatly and had no chance of falling down (and in perfect condition) and let out a sigh of relief.


	3. Chapter 2

They all gathered in the dining room once again, but this time it was a more serious meeting. Thruda waited quietly for either Thorin or Gandalf to say something as she sat in the back with Fili, Kili, and Dwalin.

Suddenly Thorin started singing. Thruda knew the song, even though it wasn't one that she head learned on the Lonely Mountain. This song was written after the fall of the Mountain, and even though she was sure that all of them knew it, nobody started singing with Thorin. It was a lament of a lost king, not to be ruined by soldiers, toymakers, thieves, and musicians.

" _Far over the misty mountains cold, to dungeons deep and caverns old we must away ere break of day to seek the pale enchanted gold._

 _"The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, while hammers fell like ringing bells in places deep where dark things sleep, in hollow halls beneath the fells."_ As Thruda listened to the pain that was obvious in Thorin's voice, she remembered Erebor. Most of the time she hardly thought of her old kingdom; she had chosen to look ahead into the future instead of looking back at what had been or what could be. But as Thorin sang, she remembered Erebor's might and majesty.

 _"For ancient king and elvish lord, there many a gleaming golden hoard. they shaped and wrought, and light they caught to hid gems in hilt of sword."_ Some dwarves grabbed their instruments and started playing along. Thruda wasn't one of them, not wanting to work with Thorin on anything. However, she still felt that sudden longing for Erebor to belong to the dwarves again. She could tell that all the dwarves here felt it, some more than others.

 _"On silver necklaces they strung the flowering stars, on crowns they hung the dragon-fire, in twisted wire. They meshed the light of moon and sun."_ Thruda was watching Bilbo as Thorin sang. Something seemed to have come over him. There was something that could be described as a conflict on his face. He looked like a Took. Thruda wondered if maybe Gandalf was right and that Bilbo was exactly what they needed on this quest.

 _"Far over the misty mountains cold to dungeons deep and caverns old we must away ere break of day, to claim our long forgotten gold._

" _Goblets they carved there for themselves, and harps of gold; where no man delves. There lay they long, and many a song was sung unheard by men or elves._

 _"The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night, the fire was read, it flaming spread."_

 _"The trees like torches blazed with light_." Thruda observed Thorin's face. Shadows from the fire beside him shone on his face, causing him to look handsome and truly prince-like... She shook her head, snapping herself out of it.

" _The bells were ringing in the dale and men looked up with faces pale; then dragon's ire more fierce than fire laid low their towers and houses frail."_

 _"The mountain smoked beneath the moon; the dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom. They fled their hall to dying fall beneath his feet, beneath the moon._

" _Far over the misty mountains grim to dungeons deep and caverns dim we must away, ere break of day, to win our harps and gold from him!"_

After a few seconds of silence, Thorin said, "Let the meeting begin."

Bilbo stood up. "Yes, I'd like to talk about that," he told them. He had to stand on his chair for them to realize that he was talking. "Tonight, fourteen dwarves entered my house unexpectedly, ate my food, used my house for their own purposes, and I have no idea why!"

Now it was clear to them why he had seemed so flustered when they had arrived at his house and how impolite he had been to all of them. They were unexpected guests! "Gandalf!" Thruda exclaimed. "You didn't tell him that we were coming?"

Gandalf shook his head. "I had been under the impression that he had invited me over for tea," he told Thruda. "In normal tea parties, guests are allowed to bring others." Bilbo opened his mouth to protest, but closed it before he could say anything.

"To answer your question, Master Baggins," Thorin said, "we sang about it in our song." And he explained how the mountain had been taken by the dragon Smaug. "We are going to take it back with your help. We wished to have fifteen on this quest, as it is being considered a lucky number recently. Or, Gandalf did. All I did was request a burglar."

Thruda leaned towards Fili and Kili. "He doesn't look like a burglar," she whispered to them.

"More like a grocer," Kili agreed, grinning. "Think we can prank him?"  
She scoffed. "Hell yeah!"

Bilbo looked from dwarf face to dwarf face. "What?" he asked. "Defeat... defeat a _dragon_?" He laughed. "You must be crazy. You can't just walk through the front door..."

Thruda nodded. "We can't," she agreed. "Which is why Gandalf ought to have new information which will tell us how to, because he's the one who called us all together. And if he doesn't have any information I will be very, very angry."

"I do have information," Gandalf told them. He tossed a scroll down on the table, which Thorin rolled open. Thruda leaned forward to see it. "A map of Erebor. It was given to me with this key-" he put it down on the table as well- "by Thrain, son of Thror, to give to his son, Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror. These passed into my possession years ago."

Fili frowned and leaned forward. "What took you so long, then?" he demanded.

Gandalf gave him a cold look. "Thrain could not remember his own name, much less his son's when I found him, on the verge of death. It was only until I met Thorin near Bree (he refuses to tell me why he was there) that I realized that the dwarf was Thrain, son of Thror," he answered. "Thorin was nearly as hard to track as Thruda, who is extremely better than all of you. You were shamefully conspicuous."

Thruda looked down; Thorin had rolled her another note. She glanced at Thorin and opened it warily, keeping an eye on Gandalf. " _I was looking for you_ ," Thorin had written. " _As I have been ever since the Mountain fell, when I wasn't taking a job for money_." She ripped up the note and shoved it in her boot, but not before remembering that she had forgotten to wipe her tracks and stay hidden when she had arrived in Bree.

"This map tells of a smaller door on the side of the mountain," Gandalf said. "The runes here say 'five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.' Smaug, no doubt, either does not know of this passage or does not use it because it is too small." Thruda started to get a little nervous; even though she was a dwarf, she didn't like being in close areas. Only Thorin knew about it. Thruda wouldn't call it claustrophobia, exactly, because she wasn't terrified of it. She just liked to stay away from close areas. Alright, maybe it was claustrophobia.

The plan was sounding worse and worse every minute, but only Bilbo and Thruda seemed to realize it, in Thruda's opinion. Everyone else was full of excitement, which completely horrified Thruda. They were going to their deaths!

"We shall set out east tomorrow, but before we do, everyone involved must sign. Everyone except Thruda and Bilbo have," Thorin said. He passed them both each a contract and a quill. She knew what the contract said immediately from her magical senses and didn't like it. Still, after looking around at all the faces around the table, she shoved her higher reasoning senses aside and signed the paper, passing it back to Thorin. He gave her a small smile as he took it, which she didn't return. Bilbo kept reading the long contract.

Dori interrupted. "Wait, we're actually letting her come with us?" he demanded.

"Why not?" Dwalin countered. "I bet she could kick your butt any day."

"It's too dangerous!" Nori exclaimed.

Thruda glared. "I can handle myself, thank you very much," she said. "And I don't see Thorin trying to keep me out of this. If he doesn't mind, neither should you."

They all turned to Thorin, who immediately shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well..." he started. "I would rather she was safe."

"Thorin!" Thruda exclaimed, exasperated.

At the same time, Dwalin protested, "She's the best out of all of us!"

The dwarf king held up a hand to silence them. "But I have a feeling that she's going to follow behind us anyway, so we might as well have her come with us so we can keep an eye on her the whole time."

"This is a joke, right?" Bilbo asked the dwarves, bringing their attention back to him. They shook their heads. He looked at them for a second, then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

They stared at him, surprised, for a few seconds. "Well, that was unexpected," Thruda said to break the silence, causing everyone to laugh.

Fili, Kili, and Thruda picked him up and dragged him into his bed. "Do you think he'll be alright?" Thruda wondered. "I mean, Gandalf must have seen something in him... though I admit that I don't see it."

"Who cares?" Fili asked as he and Kili bounded back to the dining room. Thruda shot a glance back at Bilbo before heading back with them.

Thorin looked up as Thruda entered the room. "We need to decide on leaders," she told them as she walked in. "Probably a first, second, and third in command. Just in case, you know."

He nodded. "Good idea. I think it is obvious that I will be first in command?" Thorin said. They all nodded, but Thruda frowned. He was so full of himself... yet Thruda liked his confidence in himself. "Then, as leader, I think I have the privilege to pick the second and third?" They all nodded again. "Very well. Thruda, you're my second, and Balin, you're my third. Does everyone agree on that?" Everyone nodded once more, but Thruda wasn't happy. Being second meant that she would be spending more time with Thorin than she needed to... and that wasn't something she wanted. Also, she didn't like being a leader. She didn't want everybody looking up to her for directions or orders that could possibly get them killed. Actually, she had a strong aversion to leadership.

Kili hissed teasingly to Thruda, "He likes you. Maybe I should start calling you Aunty."

Thruda elbowed him hard. "Shut up," she said. She doubted that Thorin had told his nephews about her failed relationship with him because her rejection of her probably reflected poorly on his ego. Kili was probably guessing from how Thorin treated Thruda.

"Then let us rest here and leave an hour after dawn, whether or not our burglar comes with us," Thorin announced, bringing her attention back to him. They headed into the living room, where the dwarves claimed spots and fell asleep in two seconds besides Gandalf, Thorin, and Thruda, who were still standing. However, there was no room left for them on the floor.

Gandalf spoke up. "I believe Bilbo has one other sleeping room, so we shall have to divide," he told them.

Thruda felt that he was lying, but didn't act on it. "I'll sleep in the dining room," Thruda offered.

Thorin shook his head. "No," he said. "Gandalf and I shall sleep there. You get the bed, Thruda." Before Thruda could protest, he left the room and headed back to the room they just left.

Gandalf gave her a long look. "He loves you," he told her.

"I don't love him," she replied coldly. "Am I right in assuming that you know why?"

He smiled slightly. "You love him, but your hatred masks it," he said. "But, Thruda, keep this in mind; you must at least pretend to be on his side during this trip. Do not contradict him openly." He moved to follow Thorin into the dining room, but turned around. "You may be loosing valuable happiness by shunning the son of Thrain now. And I, at least, know that happiness will soon come to be a very rare thing." With that cryptic remark, he left the room.


	4. Chapter 3

Thruda woke up to see someone sitting in the corner of her room, which was full of shadows. Instinctively, Thruda grabbed her sword, unsheathed it, and pointed the tip at the intruder's throat. Then she realized it was Thorin. Her next thought was that she only slept in a long T-shirt that reached her knees and a sloping V-neck.

"What the hell?" she demanded, sheathing the sword. "I thought you were a murderer or something. Why are you in my room?"

Thorin looked sheepish. He felt his face instantly turn red. "Sorry. I was going to come in and wake you up, but I decided to let you sleep a few more minutes."

"What time is it?" Thruda asked, sitting down on her bed.

If it was possible, he felt even more sheepish. "An hour before dawn," he told her.

Thruda jumped up again. "What?! You said we were leaving an hour after dawn!" Thruda exclaimed.

"Well, I was planning on talking with you about leadership stuff.. and about us," he said. "Besides that, I remembered that you took a long time to get ready in the morning."

She tried to keep her face expressionless. The one and only time Thorin had seen her get ready in the morning was when they had slept together... in the inappropriate context.

"That was before. Now I take five minutes," she told him. "Wake me up again in an hour, and we can talk leadership then. It's too early to think." She went back to bed and closed her eyes, but didn't fall asleep.

There was a sound from Thorin's corner of the room, and footsteps. But instead of heading outside, they were heading closer to her. Thruda felt him sit down on the edge of her bed. "Look, Thruda, I know that you hate me now, but I need to talk to you."

"Gandalf talked to me yesterday, Thorin. I'm going to behave myself. If I contradict you, it'll be in private," Thruda muttered, her mouth full of pillow.

He sighed. "That's not exactly what I wanted to talk about when I said 'us', and you know it," he told her. "That day you saw Susan and I together... that wasn't my fault. She kind of came on to me."

"Yeah, right. You had your tongue in her mouth," Thruda snapped. "Don't lie, Thorin."

"Alright, maybe I did, but I've regretted it ever since," Thorin said. "It was that one kiss that ruined my relationship with the perfect girl. Thruda, I want to be in your life again. I don't care if I won't ever be your boyfriend again, but I just want to be able to talk to you like I did."

She didn't respond, and eventually Thorin stood up and left. It wasn't until the door closed that she noticed a single tear falling from one of her eyes.

An hour later, Gandalf knocked on her door. "Thruda, get up! It's dawn," he said.

Thruda groaned. "Go away!" she called.

Then she heard Thorin. "I've got this covered, Gandalf," Thorin reassured Gandalf. He kicked the door open and went straight to Thruda's bag. "Let's see, Thruda. Do you still have that book? Your father's diary? I was wondering if I could take a look."

She jumped up, wide awake. "Get out of my room, Thorin, and don't touch a single thing on your way out," she growled. He walked backwards and out of the room, smiling slightly. Then Thruda noticed Gandalf's reproaching look. "You said don't let it be known to others that I hate him. You already know that I hate him, so if I show it, it doesn't matter." Gandalf sighed and left.

In three minutes, Thruda was in the dining room, hanging around with Fili and Kili and planning pranks. Thorin had seated himself so that he was closer to them than before, but not right next to them. Thruda deliberately shifted her chair away. He frowned and rolled another note to her. She ignored it., but when the dining room was empty, she picked it up and shoved it in her pocket.

After half an hour more, in which they got all their supplies ready, they headed out to an inn to wait for Bilbo. "If he doesn't come by 11:00, we are leaving," Thorin whispered to Thruda a few minutes after they had settled down at the nearby inn called the Green Dragon. "And I doubt he will."

"He might," Thruda contradicted. "There must be something in him if Gandalf picked him."

Thorin grimaced. "I don't think Gandalf is right about this one," he said.

"A bet!" Kili cried.

"A bet!" Fili and Thruda agreed. Fili and Kili instantly started going around, collecting bets. When they got to Thruda (and she was one of the last ones), she saw that everyone said that Bilbo wouldn't come.

Thruda hesitated, not totally convinced that Bilbo would come, despite her words to Thorin. Then she saw a sky-blue bag with Thorin's family crest betting against Bilbo. That settled it for Thruda; she would not be betting on the same thing as Thorin. She said, "He will come. I'm putting five coins on him."

They waited until 11:00, and they were about to leave when Bilbo came running up. "I didn't find your note until a few minutes ago," he panted. "Gandalf kicked me out of my own house. Wouldn't even let me grab a pocket handkerchief."

"You'll have to borrow some of our stuff, then," Thruda said. "Don't worry about it." She shot a glance at Thorin, who looked shocked, before clearing some baggage off of the pack pony. "Get on here."

Bilbo looked uncertain as he saw the pony. "I can walk, don't worry," he said, but Dwalin and Thruda lifted him up by his armpits and dumped him on the pony, ignoring his squeals of terror.

The second Thruda's hands were free, the other dwarves bombarded her with sacks of coins. She stuffed them in her saddle bag, smirking when she saw the sky-blue pouch with the rest of the bags and loose coins. Soon after, Gandalf joined them, smiling at Thruda as he did. Thruda felt that it had something to do with the money she had just won.

A few days passed. Thruda grew closer to Fili and Kili and renewed her relationships with the dwarves she already knew. Soon she was at ease with everybody besides Thorin, who she knew she would never be at ease with again.

One night, when only Fili, Kili, Thruda, and Bilbo were awake, a howl pierced the still night. Thruda's head snapped up, and her hand reached for her sword.

"What was that?" Bilbo squeaked.

Fili, Kili, and Thruda glanced at each other. "Orcs," they answered together.

"Nasty creatures," Thruda continued. "Really foul. Probably the worst of the worst of Middle Earth."

"They attack in packs," Kili told Bilbo.

"In the dead of the night, when everybody's sleeping," Fili said.  
"It's quick work," Kili agreed. "Quiet, too."  
"Just a lot of blood," Fili went on.

Bilbo's eyes turned as wide as plates, and Fili and Kili started cracking up. Thruda elbowed both of them to get them to shut up and was about to tell Bilbo how the Orcs really attacked, but Thorin stood up. She hadn't even realized that he was awake.

"Orc attacks are not a laughing matter," he told them coldly. He walked off, and Thruda could see him standing alone by a tree a few meters away, staring at the full moon.

Thruda looked back to Fili, Kili, and Bilbo. "I'm going to walk around," she said. "If I'm not back in half an hour, start worrying."

She stood up and walked past Thorin, sword in hand. As she did, Thorin's hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. "Don't go," he pleaded. "It could be dangerous."

"You can't tell me what to do, Thorin," Thruda snapped, and she wrenched her arm out of his. She stormed off and walked a mile or so, always aware and keeping an eye out for danger. Her mind wandered to everything from her relationship with Thorin and the hopelessness of the quest that she was now on. She sometimes took her anger out on trees, chopping off branches and making notches on the bark. It helped if she pictured Thorin's face on all the trees.

After about ten minutes, she headed back, quicker this time. She was soon back at the Company's camp, and everyone was staring at Thorin with a misty look in their eyes. Thruda grimaced and plopped down on her bedroll, quickly falling asleep.

However, before she did, she heard the last bit of their conversation. "What happened to him?" Bilbo asked. "Azog, I mean." Thruda wondered who Azog was.

"The filth died of his wounds," Thorin said harshly, his voice full of venom. After a few more seconds, Thruda heard him walk over to his bedroll and lay down, going back to sleep.

During the next day, they travelled. It had suddenly started raining mercilessly, causing everyone to get drenched and grumpy.

"Oi, Gandalf!" Dori shouted. "Can you do something about this rain?"

Gandalf turned around, looking at the dwarf. "It will continue to rain, and I shall let it until it is done raining," he answered. "If you wish to stop the rain, you had better find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any other wizards?" Bilbo asked curiously. Thruda wanted to hide under the ground and stay there for another five years, knowing where this was going.

Gandalf nodded. "There are six," he answered. "Saruman the White is the leader of the Council of the White and possibly the most powerful out of all of us. There are two Blues, but I can't seem to recall their names." He thought for a second. "Yes, their names always seem to escape me."

Bilbo looked exasperated. "If there are only six wizards, how do you not remember all of their names?" he demanded. Gandalf ignored him.

"Then there is Radagast the Brown," he continued. A strange, thoughtful look came over his face.

"Is he a great wizard, or is he more like you?" Bilbo asked.

Thruda almost choked on her laughter. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, referring to Bilbo's comment. Fili and Kili started laughing along with her.

Gandalf had chosen to ignore the insult. "Radagast is a kind soul and a great wizard in his own right," he told Bilbo. "He prefers the company of animals over humans."

"And the sixth?" Bilbo pressed.

"I believe you already know the sixth," Gandaf said. Bilbo's curious face turned into one of confusion. "In fact, she is in this very Company."

All eyes turned to Thruda, who instantly turned red. "I'm not a wizard," she said.

"If you say so," Gandalf replied with a smile.  
At that point, she couldn't decide who she hated more- Thorin or Gandalf.


	5. Chapter 4

Soon it was evening, and they had come across an abandoned and destroyed old house. It was uninhabited, so Thorin decided to make camp just as it started pouring rain. Thruda drew her hood up over her head and frowned, not liking being wet. Thorin went ahead into the house to check it out, and Gandalf followed him. After a few minutes and the sound of raised voices from inside, Gandalf came storming out.

"Where are you going?" Bilbo called.

Gandalf kept walking, obviously aggravated. "To seek the company of the only one who actually has any sense around here; myself!" he shouted. He took his horse and rode off.

Thorin came out of the house. "We will stay here for tonight," he snapped, and he walked back inside without waiting to see if the others would pay attention.

"What's got his beard in a knot?" Thruda muttered to Fili and Kili as they walked to the house. Fili and Kili started laughing loudly when one of the ponies bolted towards a nearby river. Fili shot after it, but it had already jumped into the river. He jumped into the water after it and brought it back to shore, shivering.

The three of them hurried back to the house, hoping for a nice, warm fire and a dry place to rest. However, when they entered the house, they saw that the roof was utterly destroyed. The rain still got in, which meant that they were hardly protected from the rain. Fili started grumbling unhappily.

Suddenly, they saw a light coming from the distance. "We should go!" Fili exclaimed as all of them had left the house and stood outside, looking at the light. "We can warm up!"

"It's not cold," Bombur protested, causing Thruda to roll her eyes. About seven eights of Bombur's body weight was fat, so that was probably why he wasn't cold. Thorin caught Thruda's expression and laughed quietly, even though she hadn't noticed that he had. In fact, she probably hadn't realized him shooting glances at her throughout the whole journey, judging by the fact that she had ignored him the whole time instead of shouting at him.

They looked at the light longingly. After a few seconds, Thorin had an idea. "We will send the burglar," he announced. He turned to Bilbo who gulped. "Investigate the light. If it is safe, come back and tell us. If not, try to come back. If you can't, hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech owl." He pushed him forward, and in a few seconds Bilbo was walking ahead nervously. The dwarves huddled together, watching him near the light. Then he went out of their range of sight.

After a few minutes, he still hadn't come back. "What is wrong with that blasted burglar?" Thorin demanded. "What is taking him so long?"

"Maybe he ran back to his hobbit hole," Kili offered.

Thruda shook her head. "I don't think so. He was stupid enough to come with us, so why would he go back if he was truly that stupid?" she replied.

"Are you calling this mission stupid?" Bifur asked angrily

"Maybe I am! Do you think that we have a chance against a dragon?" Thruda demanded.

Thorin shushed Bifur and Thruda angrily, then glanced at the light. "I heard something. We'll head out one by one to see if he's fine," he said.

Soon, all of the dwarves besides Thorin and Thruda had went to the light source, but none of them had come back. They thought that they had heard some noises, but weren't sure enough to know for sure that they others were in trouble.  
"Should we go help?" Thruda asked.  
Thorin frowned. "I don't want you be in danger," he said.  
She sighed. "I'm going to be in danger at least once," she told him. "Why keep me out of danger just to shove me back in later?"  
"You think that I wanted you to come? To possibly be killed?" Thorin demanded. "I would rather you stay in Bree or wherever else you would travel and come back to the Mountain after we had conquered it. Gandalf said that you would be helpful because you were half wizard, and the only reason that you're here is because I couldn't come up with a good enough reason to keep you out of this."

Thruda glared. "Ok, fine, then. But even if you'd rather me be safe somewhere else, I'm on this mission and I'm going to pull my weight. Now sod off, and I'm going to go investigate what's happening," she snapped. She stomped off and made it about six paces when she heard Thorin's footsteps hurrying after her.

He sighed. "I couldn't let you face them alone," he said.

"You know that I'm perfectly capable of handling whatever is by the fire," Thruda replied.

"I know," he answered. "But I want you to be safe.

"I'm half wizard! I think I can protect myself!" she exclaimed.

They kept arguing about Thruda's safety until they got close to the campsite. It was in a clearing, with a giant fire in the middle. It looked abandoned. Suddenly, there was a whimper, and Thruda turned around. A terrified Bilbo hiding in a tree by the edge of the clearing, and they went up to him. "Where are the others?" Thorin asked quietly.

"Trolls... shadows!" he squeaked. "Others... bagged... meal!" He refused to tell anything else, and they could tell that he was too terrified to say any more. Thruda shared a look with Thorin, then went back to getting Bilbo to tell more. Eventually they got him to say one more word, "hidden", which led Thruda to realize that the trolls were hiding in the shadows and would bag anybody they saw.

But before Thruda could form a plan with Thorin, he had stepped out into the open, sword ready. "Thorin!" she exclaimed. "Thorin, come back here right now or else I'm going to come out and get you!" He sent a smirk in her direction, causing her to groan. She left Bilbo and the tree and headed out to Thorin, fuming.

Thruda heard a troll sneeze, and her senses automatically sharpened. All the defenses that she put up against her magic fell, and she could smell the trolls and the fear coming from the dwarves. She knew that she would hate herself for this later, but she tried to control her magic for the first time in her life; normally she would just fight it. Magic flew through her veins, causing her tangled, unbraided (meaning that she was single) hair to fly like a wind was blowing. She rose a few inches off of the air, and so did a few nearby rocks and sticks. Thorin, seeing her magic and knowing what it meant, tightened his grip on his sword and looking around more carefully. Good idea. She drew her sword as well so that she would be prepared.

Her display seemed to have caused the trolls to hesitate. They stayed in the shadows, quietly debating whether or not to attack Thorin and Thruda if there was a wizard there. She pointed her sword in their general direction, and a few rocks flew there. Each rock hit the trolls in one eye, causing howls of pain and cursing. Thruda could tell now that there were three trolls. Thorin stepped forward, now that he knew where they were, and swung his sword at one of them, slicing his leg. That troll started cursing more than ever and hobbled on one leg after Thorin, who ran for dear life. They ran around the circular campsite, both of them spewing curses out of their mouths. It looked comical. Thruda rolled her eyes and turned to the other trolls as Thorin ran as fast as he could to get away from the troll, which would normally be faster than him with two legs, but this troll only had use of one leg, so he was slower.

The other two trolls had risen out of the shadows and were both facing Thruda with murderous looks. She grinned, excited for a battle, and pointed her sword at the fire. Some of it flew to her, and she lashed out with it, burning both trolls. They howled in pain and tried to get on both sides of her (showing an exceptional amount of brainpower), but she didn't let them. Her fire was a cross between a whip and a sword, and combined with her skill, it was deadly.

One of the trolls took a swing at Thruda, and his club came into contact with her ribs. She staggered for a second, then struck back and wrapped the fire around his neck. She threw him towards the fire, where he landed on it and started cursing even more loudly. He jumped up and ran around frantically, plowing into the troll chasing Thorin. Both of them recovered and turned towards Thorin, who started fighting them both.

The other troll ran straight at Thruda. She rolled her eyes at their lack of technique and struck out with her fire, coiling it tightly around his waist. If they could just keep the trolls occupied until the dawn came and turned them to stone... But even as Thruda thought about it, the two trolls overpowered Thorin and bagged him. He joined the others, shouting out her name frantically.

Once Thorin landed next to his Company, he started cursing himself. He had used every strategy that he had learned on Erebor to defeat two attackers at once, but he had gotten distracted. He remembered slicing at the second troll and turning to fight the first one, but while turning, he had seen Thruda fighting and wanted to make sure that she was safe. His focus was lost, and the first troll had been able to throw him in a bag.

Thorin was disgusted with himself. He had lost focus and caused himself to loose the battle and get captured. All because of a girl that hated him, yet he still loved. A girl that he hadn't been able to get over for years.

Meanwhile, Thruda had three trolls to deal with. She drew more fire from the troll's fire and separated them into three sections. They all ran at Thruda with their clubs raised, and she formed a giant shield with the fire. As the trolls ran into it, they got terrible burns on their chests. They bounced off and started arguing amongst themselves about whose idea it was to attack Thruda and her "mate."

"Hey!" Thruda exclaimed. "I don't care if this is going to make you remember my presence and kill me, but I just want to say that he's not my mate!" They turned to her angrily, and Thruda prepared for a fight, knowing that she would probably loose. At least she would die... er, be eaten... with her friends. Suddenly, Bilbo burst from the trees and tried to distract them, talking about the best ways to eat a dwarf. That got the trolls' attention. It was actually hilarious (in Thruda's opinion; not so much the other dwarves') when he claimed that Bombur had worms in his tubes. Thruda appreciated the gesture; he was taking their attention away from her so that she could form a plan.

She noticed the dawn coming. However, there were rocks that would cast a shadow over the troll's campsite until noon. They couldn't wait until noon. Thruda teleported to the top of the rocks. "Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!" she cried, pointing with her sword to the middle of the rocks, causing them to break in half. She quickly stepped to the side so that she didn't fall over.

Then she noticed that the sun was still to low to turn the trolls to stone. "Crap," she hissed. The trolls finally remembered Thruda's presence and turned to her, murderous. She gulped and smiled sweetly. Then she pointed her sword at the sun, willing it to rise further into the sky so that it would be bright enough. To her surprise, it followed her command, causing bright sunlight to flood the campsite. The trolls shouted and immediately turned to stone. She sighed in relief, moved the sun back into place, and forced the magic back. It was still there, and more powerful than before, but she could still suppress it.

She climbed down from the tall rock, feeling relieved that it was all over. She noticed that Gandalf had come back, freed the dwarves, and went to talk to Bilbo while she was moving the sun back into position. In a minute, her feet were on the ground. She was immediately in the middle of a giant group hug of dwarves. "Great job, Thruda!" "I saw it all, you were amazing!" "I didn't know that you were that powerful!" "When you told us that you were half wizard, I didn't know that you could do all that!"

Suddenly, with her magic gone, she felt her battle wounds more keenly than before. Her ribs were probably broken from when the troll had hit her with its club, even though it hadn't hurt before. She went limp, leaning against the other dwarves.

"Clear off! Thruda needs to rest and be tended to!" Thorin ordered. The second the dwarves left, Thorin was there, supporting her. He led Thruda to the fire and laid her down. He started to slip off her shirt, but her hands stopped him.

"I'm fine," Thruda protested. "I'll live."

He shook his head. "You could have internal injuries. I need to check. Relax," he said. His soothing voice caused Thruda to relax, and she let him roll up her shirt to see her wounds. After some not-so-gentle poking in her ribs (which caused Thurda to wince), Thorin told her his official opinion. "Your ribs are broken. Gandalf can probably heal them, but as he's talking to Bilbo, I'll do my best for now." He ripped off the bottom of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her ribs. As he did, his hands gently touched her skin accidentally. His touch caused her breath to catch and her heart to pound faster.

What the hell? She didn't like him any more.

Gandalf came back with Bilbo (who was looking proud of himself) standing behind him. Thorin barely took notice, but kept his blue eyes locked with hers. Her breath caught again, remembering the look of intense love and contention that he used to have on his face when they had been dating. "Gandalf," he said quietly, still looking at Thruda. "Thruda is hurt. Her ribs are broken."

The wizard came over, and Thorin showed him her injuries. Gandalf picked up his staff. "This could hurt," he warned Thruda. She nodded and felt Thorin take her hand. After a second's hesitation, she slipped her hand out as Gandalf pointed his staff at her ribs.

She felt a warm, tickling sensation in her ribs. It was like she could feel them fixing themselves. It didn't hurt at all. Suddenly, the sensation was gone; Gandalf had taken his staff away because she was healed. However, the wizard was giving Thruda a confused look. "What?" she demanded.

"You are more powerful than I thought, Thruda," Gandalf told her thoughtfully. "Only a very powerful wizard could have taken my power and controlled it."

"Now you're just confusing me," she replied. "When did I take your powers?"

Thorin sighed. "It's old wizard-lore. My father made me study it," he said. "There used to be this legend stating that if there were two wizards and the one with less power used their powers on the stronger one, the stronger one would be able to absorb the weaker one's powers and use it." Thorin then made eye contact with Gandalf. "I don't think that it was ever proven, though."

"Of course not. It takes a great deal of control to use a foreign power. I doubt that even I could have done that," Gandalf replied. "I will need to think on this."

She sat up, expecting to feel pain in her ribs, but it felt fine. Thorin eyed her anxiously, watching for any sign of her possible collapse. "I'm fine," she told him, aggravated. "Honestly. Go and deal with Fili and Kili; it looks like they're going to kill each other." Sure enough, the twins were wrestling, and the other dwarves were gathered in a circle around the two of them, cheering them on. Bilbo sat on a log a few feet away, looking awkward and uncertain.

"You should really learn how to control your magic," Gandalf told Thruda as Thorin left. "You could do wonders."

Thruda glared at Gandalf. "I don't want to do wonders," she snapped.

Gandalf sighed. "Your mother has poisoned your mind," he said unhappily. "I fail to understand why she married a wizard if she hated magic that much..."

Not wanting to continue the conversation any longer, Thruda walked away. She didn't want to watch the fight, because she wasn't interested in those things. It was a male game. When she glanced over, she saw Thorin cheering on Kili instead of trying to stop the fight. She rolled her eyes.

The only other option was Bilbo. She didn't really want to talk to him, especially since she was indebted to the hobbit because he confronted the trolls for her, but he was the much calmer option and she really didn't want to sit with Gandalf if he was going to keep trying to recruit her for wizard school or watch the fight if it was going to be gory (it probably was, knowing Fili and Kili). So she headed over to where Bilbo was standing and sat beside him.

"Hi, Bilbo," Thruda said.

He jumped when he saw the girl dwarf. She had been the last person he would have thought that would come up to him, especially since she was friends with Fili and Kili and couldn't resist teasing him. "Hi, Thruda," he replied, scooting over on the log so she had a place to sit. "How was your day?"

Thruda laughed, causing him to chuckle nervously. Her eyes had probably turned back to green (she was in a good mood), which was a first since the Company left Bilbo's house. "It was great!" Thruda exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "Between freezing my arse off at night, fighting three trolls to free my friends, and getting broken ribs, it was the best day ever!" Bilbo laughed.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have asked that," he said. "The answer should be pretty obvious." He looked sadly at his belt, which was empty of any weapons. "It's too bad that I can't fight."

Her heart went out to him. He wanted to fight and help them, but he didn't know how. "Get up. This sword's gonna be a little big, but it shouldn't be that bad. Ok, maybe it will be. It's taller than you."

"It's not taller than me!" Bilbo protested. Thruda laughed and held out her hand. He took it, and she pulled him up. "Ok, maybe it is," he agreed when he saw the sword.

He was eyeing the sword like it would come alive and chop his head off. Thruda laughed as she handed him her sword, hilt-first. He reached out to take it, and the second she let go, he dropped it. "It's heavy!" he exclaimed, causing Thruda to crack up. Her laughter was loud and free. She realized that in the past few minutes with Bilbo, she had laughed more than she had had for years. Bilbo laughed too, but during his laughs, he kept protesting that she had tied rocks to it.

Thorin was suddenly by Thruda's side. "What's going on here?" he asked. He was trying to keep his voice in a neutral curious tone, but Thruda could tell that it was forced. His eyes were narrowed to slits.

"I was just trying to teach Bilbo how to fight," Thruda told him in a reserved tone. Her eyes were cat-like, and they would probably stay like that whenever Thorin was around.

If it was possible, his eyes narrowed even more. "Oh, so it's Bilbo now, huh? Since when were you on first name basis?" Thorin demanded, anger evident in his tone. Bilbo inched away, and Thruda couldn't blame him. Thorin could be terrifying when angry. The only reason she wasn't moving away with Bilbo was that she had long since gotten used to his anger and had grown a temper to match it.

"Does it matter?" she snapped. "Why are you so protective, Thorin? I'm trying to have a nice conversation for the first time on this whole quest! It's either Gandalf trying to teach me magic or you trying to be my guard dog! Bilbo and I were actually having a nice conversation until you came and _ruined_ it!" Thruda pushed him as hard as she could, causing him to stumble. "I _hate_ you, Thorin Oakenshield! I absolutely _hate_ you!" She ran off into the forest, and Thorin could hear her crying.

He was about to go after her to convince her to come back when Gandalf reached out with his staff and blocked Thorin's path. "She needs to be alone right now," Gandalf told the angry dwarf.

"Like hell she does!" Thorin snarled. "Anything could happen out there, Gandalf!"

Gandalf didn't reply for a few seconds. It looked like he was trying to phrase his next sentence in the nicest way possible. "She brings out a different side of you, Thorin," Gandalf told him.

"You think I don't know that? I love her," Thorin said.

"Then you'll let her be alone for now," Gandalf replied. Thorin let out a string of curses about Gandalf and stormed back to the campsite, where Fili had emerged the victor of the fight.

Dwalin, who was standing near the edge of the group, saw the dwarf king walking angrily in the opposite direction of Thruda. He left the group and followed Thorin. Soon they were in the trees. "Thorin," Dwalin called.

Thorin turned towards Dwalin with a scowl on his face. "What is it?" he snapped.

"I was just wondering if you needed to talk about something," Dwalin told him calmly, not intimidated. "I know Thruda pretty well, considering we're basically family."

For a half of a second, Thorin's angry look flickered into one of concern, but then it was gone. "I'm fine, Dwalin," he said. "Go back and talk with Balin about something." Thorin started walking away again, and Dwalin still followed him.

"She needs a free rein, Thorin. You can't treat her like a jewel that you lock away, just for your eyes to see," Dwalin said. "She's not fragile."

Thorin didn't stop walking. "I thought I told you to go back, Dwalin," he growled.

Dwalin continued talking, ignoring Thorin. "She'll do what she wants and there's no stopping her," he continued. "She's a stubborn lass; quite like you, actually. I believe that was what you saw in her in the beginning, wasn't it? And the fact that you seem to have forgotten, seeing how you're treating her." Thorin opened his mouth to protest, but Dwalin kept plowing on. "She's just going to start hating you if you keep trying to treasure her."

"She already hates me," Thorin muttered, quiet enough that he thought that Dwalin wouldn't hear.

"No, Thorin," Dwalin said, pulling the king to a stop and putting his hand on his shoulder. "She doesn't hate you. She just thinks she does." Then he turned around and left, heading back towards the camp and leaving Thorin to his own devices.

A half hour went by, and Thruda heard a twig snap. Instantly, her tears stopped, and she pulled out her sword while pushing her magic back in a far, far corner. "Who's there?" she called.

Bilbo stepped quietly from a tree. "I was told to come get you," he said. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes." Then he noticed her tear-stained face. "Are you okay? Gandalf told us to give you time, but... you gave us all quite a scare, running off like that. It took me a while to find you."

She nodded and wiped some more tears from her face, sitting back down. "I'll be fine," she told him, sniffling. "Just give me a minute." He sat down next to her and didn't say anything. He didn't try to comfort her or wrap his arms around her. He just sat. And that was what she needed to feel better.

"Thanks, Bilbo," she said after a few more minutes.

"I didn't do anything," he replied. "I just sat here.

Thruda smiled. "Exactly," she told him. Then she noticed something hanging from his belt. "Bilbo! You got a sword!"

He looked down at his belt and blushed. "Oh, yeah. That. It's actually a dagger, but it's the right size for me, so it's fine. Now you can teach me how to fight without me killing myself," he said.

"Where did you get it?" Thruda asked.

"Oh, we found the trolls' gold cave," Bilbo answered. He pointed to something on the ground. "That's for you. I dragged it all the way here. Gandalf and Thorin thought that you would want that." Thruda bent down and picked it up. It was a wizard's staff.

She frowned. "I actually don't," she told him. Her eyes were probably cat again. Thorin seemed to have that affect on her. Still, she picked up the staff. "We can put this back in the cave and get going." They headed back to the camp in silence.

They arrived just as the others finished packing up. Thruda saw Thorin packing her load and Gandalf packing Bilbo's. She tried to ignore the flash of anger that went through her when she saw Thorin touching her things as she walked to the nearby cave and tossed the staff inside.

"You're probably going to need it. It really helps channel your powers, you know," someone said from behind her. Thruda didn't even flinch; she had heard Thorin come up behind her a while ago.

She shook her head as she walked past him. "I don't want to be magic," she snapped. "If that thing turned into a bow, that would be nice."

He followed a few feet behind her. "You could turn it into a bow," he said.

"I don't want to turn it into a bow," Thruda told him as she walked faster, trying to get him to give up.

Sadly, he didn't. "You'll improve your chances of survival," he told her.

"Can you stop running your big mouth and _shut up_?!" she demanded, turning around angrily. She felt her magic wanting to lash out at Thorin, but she held it back. If she was going to fight him, it would be sword to sword.

The camp quieted. All of the other fourteen people on the quest stared at them. Thorin looked around at everybody, and, deciding that he didn't want to argue in front of them, stepped away. "Fine," he said. "If you're not interested in the staff, at least try looking at the other weapons that were in that cave." He turned back to his pony, still angry.

Thruda decided on heading back to the cave. She looked around and saw something shining in the far corner. After casting a quick glance back at the entrance, she stepped in the cave and headed to the shining object. When she got there, she realized that it was a sword.

Or what looked like a sword. It was giant, probably the size of a human or Elf. Thruda tried lifting it, but it was too heavy. That was when she realized that it had an evil aura. It was all black and gave her a chilled feeling from just touching it. She backed away and ran into something.

She let out a scream and jumped away, ready to use her powers and deep-fry whoever it was. But it was just Gandalf. Thruda let out a sigh of relief and placed her hand over her heart. That sword must have messed her up bad if she was ready to use her powers rather than her sword.

"There's a bow and refilling quiver," Gandalf told her, not even unnerved. "Thorin told me you wanted a bow."

"He did, didn't he?" Thruda growled. Her anger at Thorin was back in full force. "Well, you can tell him to put the bow up his-"

Gandalf cut her off before she could say anything inappropriate. "Give him another chance, Thruda. He wants everything to be okay with you," he said. "Ever since yesterday, he's been asking you for a second chance. You're not giving it to him."

"Last time I checked, he doesn't deserve a second chance," Thruda muttered, grabbing the bow (which was black and had wizard runes on it) and quiver from the doorway of the cave. "Let's go."

The second Gandalf and Thruda left the cave, Gandalf was bombarded with a single question from all of the dwarves; "Where are we going?"

"The Last Homely Home West of the Mountains," Gandalf answered. Seeing the blank look on their faces, he said, "Rivendell, the house of Elrond."


	6. Chapter 5

As expected, Thorin had made a big fuss about accepting help from _Elves_. After a full-out, shouting-on-the-top-of-their-lungs argument between Thorin, Gandalf, and Thruda as the rest of the Company stared awkwardly on, Thorin agreed to go to Rivendell, muttering under his breath about "treacherous, murderous Elves."

Most of the journey, Thruda could be found riding next to Bilbo, much to the others' shock. He was the one she felt most comfortable with out of the whole group. All of the others besides Thorin, Balin, and Dwalin were too wild for her taste, which was rich coming from her, since she was one of the group's pranksters. However, she felt like she had to have a level head, especially since Thorin was probably going to be in a sour mood because of Rivendell, so she didn't want to hang around with Fili and Kili and neglect her duties. Thruda didn't ride with Balin or Dwalin because they were always with Thorin, and she hated Thorin. Bilbo was really her last resort, but he was nice and they were fast friends.

"Remember when I was telling you about how the Sackville-Bagginses want my house?" Bilbo said to Thruda around midday. He let out a deep sigh. "They've probably bought my house already."

Thruda reached over to him and his pony, touching his hand. "Don't worry. If we succeed, I'm sure Thorin will have a room for you in the palace. Actually, you'll probably have enough money to buy your house back if you're that desperate," she told him.

Bilbo scoffed. "Thorin hates me. He thinks I'm a weakling. And he's angry because he thinks that there's something between us," he said.

"He doesn't _hate_ you," Thruda protested. "You're generally a nice guy." Then she paused. "Ok, maybe he does, but I can tell you this; he'll be so happy that we have the castle- and the gold- back that he won't care. He's that type of guy."

Bilbo didn't reply as they kept riding towards Rivendell. Thruda noticed Thorin, who had turned around and was staring at Bilbo and her with anger. She turned back to Bilbo and saw Dwalin put his hand on Thorin's shoulder out of the corner of her eye, causing Thorin to turn his attention back to Dwalin. "Anyway, did I tell you about the first adventure that Sharwin and I went on? It was absolutely _hilarious_." Thruda announced to the group. Bilbo shook his head, and the dwarves surrounding us turned to hear the story, as well.

"Look! We're there! The Mountain!" Bilbo suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a mountain a little further off. He was excited looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

Thruda laughed when she saw what he was pointing at. "That's one of the mountains in the Misty Mountain range," she told him. "We have to get to the end of the mountain range, then we have to travel through Mirkwood and then to Laketown, where we'll then travel up the Mountain to the castle, where we'll take care of the dragon."

Poor Bilbo looked crushed.

Gandalf followed odd stones that were placed strategically around the area, and soon they descended into a valley. Thruda had a feeling that they were close to Rivendell. Maybe the goodness of the Elves let out some sort of magical vibe that she could pick up. If she could sense the location of Rivendell, she was sure that Gandalf could, too.

Suddenly the Company heard singing. Thruda looked upwards to the trees and saw Elves in the trees, teasing Thorin (because he was the king), Bilbo (because he was a hobbit) and Thruda (because she was a girl) in their song. She didn't pay attention to the lyrics but knew that the verses about her asked why so fair a maiden should be travelling with a group of rugged dwarves when she could clearly do better. Thorin glared as one Elf swooped out of a tree, tucked a flower behind Thruda's hair, and slipped back into the cover of the trees.

They kept travelling until dusk, leaving the Elves behind. It was a very tense journey; Thorin was having second thoughts about agreeing to go to Rivendell, Thruda was thinking about how big a fit Thorin was going to throw and how she should get him to agree to stay with the Elves, Gandalf was hoping that Thorin wouldn't explode in Elrond's face and get the dwarves kicked out, Bilbo was thinking about eating properly for once... Even Fili and Kili were quiet.

"We shouldn't go. We're turning around right now," Thorin announced when Rivendell was in sight and all of them were off their mounts. "I will not accept help from their kind."

Thruda pushed past him. "Shut up, Thorin. We need supplies and rest. Besides, maybe Lord Elrond can find something out about that map of ours," she said.

"They're Elves! They turned their backs on our kind!" Thorin argued, turning around and grabbing her wrist. "We can restock and rest in a nearby village. But we're not going to Rivendell. I refuse."

She glared at him, but before she could say anything, Gandalf snapped, "You are a stubborn fool, Thorin Oakenshield. Shove your pride away and see what is best for the remainder of your people!"

"I refuse! The Elves will imprison us!" Thorin shouted.

"You are a fool, Thorin!" Thruda yelled, just as loud as Thorin. "They'll give us _food_ , _shelter, supplies,_ and most important of all, _a way to read the moon runes_!" She poked him in the chest for every word that she listed. It didn't hurt, but he was startled and stepped back. She seemed to take that as him backing down, as she turned on her heel and stomped off towards Rivendell, leading her pony. The other dwarves and Bilbo followed her in single file, either shrugging at Thorin or giving him sympathetic looks as they passed him. At least they were able to put aside their hatred for Elves to see that they were better off staying at Rivendell for the night. Gandalf went once all the dwarves besides Thorin were walking towards Rivendell, not even sparing Thorin a look. Thorin heaved a sigh and tugged his pony irritably after the wizard and his Company.  
Suddenly, a figure came running out of the nearby trees, riding a sled pulled by... rabbits? Thruda squinted to see if her eyes were deceiving her, but giant rabbits were definitely pulling the sled. She lifted her bow and was about to shoot the figure until Gandalf greeted the person warmly.

"Radagast!" he exclaimed, heading up to him.

Thruda exchanged a disgusted look with Fili and Kili. "That's Radagast?" she asked. The man looked crazy! His hair was a mess, for one thing, and he had dried bird poop trailing down the side of his cheek. Thruda gulped and shuffled away from the crazy wizard.

She started talking with Fili and Kili. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gandalf pluck a stick insect off of Radagast's tongue, causing her to grimace and look away. Fili and Kili, who noticed her expression, started laughing, which caused her to get ticked off and start a fight. Dwalin, seeing that his sister was in trouble, decided to help out, and soon it turned into a full- out brawl.

Then a howl pierced the air.

The four of them stopped and glanced in the direction of the howl. "Orcs," Thruda said in a low tone. She took out her bow and looked around.

"We need to get out of here," Thorin ordered.

Radagast glanced at the rabbits behind him. "I'll draw them off," he declared. Thruda gave him a skeptical look. Giant rabbits were still rabbits. Vegetarian, cute, little things with fluffy tails. And the Orcs had Wargs. Like, wolves times a thousand.

Gandalf apparently had the same thinking. "These are Gundabad Wargs," he told Radagast.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits!" Radagast replied, his voice full of pride. He jumped onto his sled and shouted to the rabbits. They started running, and soon Radagast and his Rhosgobel rabbits were nothing but a trail of dust.

Thruda acted quickly. "Let's go!" she ordered, starting off in the opposite direction. Rivendell was still in sight, so she knew where she was going. The dwarves hurried after her, Thorin still grumpy about the Elves.

Eventually, a very weary group of dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard were in front of Elrond. Gandalf had been able to convince Elrond into believing that the group of dwarves and a hobbit were harmless travelers and needed to stay the night. Thruda was at a loss as to how he did that as all the dwarves besides Thruda were staring daggers at Elrond from behind Gandalf's back. If looks could kill, Elrond would be dead thirteen times over.

Elrond prepared a feast for the dwarves, had his servants fill up their packs with supplies, and ordered rooms for them. However, after a quick, private, confrontation with Gandalf, he announced that they only had fourteen rooms and that everyone would have their own room except two people, who would have to share so that everyone had a bed to sleep in. And, of course, those two people were Thorin and Thruda.

"I have to share with _him_?" Thruda instantly demanded. "Why me? Why him? Why doesn't someone else share with Thorin? Or why can't I share with Bilbo?"

Gandalf shot her a look, reminding her of her promise to not contradict Thorin. "Technically I already yelled at him at the troll's camp, and about staying in Rivendell," she thought angrily, but she didn't say anything else.

Because they had an hour until dinner, Thruda decided to wash up. She went to the room that she and Thorin had been given and grabbed the tub before Thorin could. It felt better than she thought to wash off the filth of the last few days, especially since the smell of troll was like a skunk's.

When she got outside, she saw a dress folded on her bed. She rolled her eyes and looked around the room for the closet, which was in the back of the room. Was it too much to hope that there would be shirts and pants that fit her in there? She decided to check it out and was relieved to find exactly what she wanted in there. After grabbing golden bell-bottom pants and a white tank top that had a sloping V-neck and hugged her figure, she closed the closet and changed. As a second thought, she grabbed a brown belt with a silver star buckle and put it on.

As she entered the dining room (it took her that long to wash, find her clothes, and comb her hair), all the dwarves smiled at her, seeing that she wasn't wearing the dress that Lord Elrond had laid out for her. Some people started taking coins out of their pockets and tossing it to others, leading Thruda to believe that they had been taking bets on whether or not she would wear a dress.

"I knew you weren't going to wear a dress, lass," Dwalin commented.

During the feast, Thruda was told to sit near the head of the table because she was second in command. Elrond sat at the head, Gandalf to his right, Thorin to his left, Thruda next to Thorin, across from Thruda and next to Gandalf Balin. Thruda noticed that Bilbo was put with Fili, Kili, and Ori (the youngest ones) at the foot of the table, probably because he wasn't respected. Thruda frowned; he had shown his worth with the trolls, or else they would have eaten her and the rest of the dwarves.

"Tell me about your travels," Elrond said the second they were all settled down. Thruda looked at Gandalf, but everyone else looked at her. Unwillingly, Thruda started telling Elrond about everything that had happened since Bilbo's house, of course not telling him about her feud with Thorin. She also omitted any part about her powers.

When she finished, she noticed Elrond staring at her with interest. "Something is different about you, Thruda," he said. "You're not just a dwarf."

Thruda looked at Gandalf for support, silently asking him if she could trust Elrond enough. Gandalf nodded, not even hesitating. She took a deep breath and looked at Elrond. "I'm half wizard, as well as half dwarf," she told Elrond. "My mother was the dwarf. Her name was Arabella, but she died during the attack on the Lonely Mountain. I don't know who my father was; my mother never told me."

Elrond looked at her with a mix of curiosity and respect. "Interesting," he muttered. Then he addressed Gandalf. "Do you have any idea who the girl's father is?"

"No," Gandalf answered. Then he changed the topic. "Elrond, I was wondering if you could tell me the name of this sword that I found in the trolls' cave." From there Thruda zoned out, not caring about the names of the swords that Thorin and Gandalf had.

She came back into awareness when Elrond said, "May I see this map that you speak of?" Gandalf looked at Thorin, who grimaced and looked like he was about to start a fight.

"No," Thorin calmly answered.

Rolling her eyes, Thruda snapped, "Thorin, we all know that if your ego was your body, you wouldn't be able to fit into this room, much less the world. You don't need to demonstrate. Just give him the map." Most of the dwarves snorted in laughter at her accusation about Thorin's ego, but it wasn't a funny matter.

His eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward. He was going to whisper something to her, but she grabbed the map, which was sticking out of his now exposed jacket pocket, and tossed it to Elrond. "Here, Lord Elrond," she said, glaring at Thorin. Thorin glared right back.

Elrond looked at the map. "These are moon-runes," he told them as if nothing had happened. "That means that certain runes on the map can only be read on the days that they were written. Luckily for you, some moon-runes have appeared today, though I do not know how many other runes are missing. Let me read you the ones that are shown now; 'Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light will shine on Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole.'"

All the dwarves groaned loudly. "Durin's Day is in autumn!" Balin complained.

"And it's the beginning of summer!" Gloin added.

"So we might not get there in time and have to wait another year, yes, we all know that," Thruda snapped. "Now we just have to speed up our pace to get there in time."

Bilbo looked pale. "Another year?" he squeaked.

"Yes, another year," Thorin replied sharply. "Do you mind wrapping your tiny brain around that so we're all on the same page?"

"Hey, this whole thing has been a big shock for him!" Thruda defended him. "Lay off him, will you?"

Thorin was about to respond when Elrond cleared his throat. "You shall have to hope that you will arrive before Durin's Day, or else we do not know how long you will have to wait for the door to be shown," he said. "And you shall certainly not reach there if you are bickering amongst yourselves."

"We shall have to... _wing it_ ," Gandalf told them.

Then Elrond and Thorin got into a slight disagreement about how dwarves were obsessed with gold and whether or not it was wise for the dwarves to try to reclaim Erebor. The rest of the feast passed quickly, Thruda wanting to get out of the room as soon as she could without seeming rude.


	7. Chapter 6

After the feast, the Company went to their rooms to rest. Since nobody had changed the sleeping arrangements, Thruda was still (unfortunately) sharing a room with Thorin. She didn't understand why a guy couldn't have shared with Thorin, but she had some suspicions that Gandalf was trying to play matchmaker again.

The second she chose the bed she wanted, Thruda left the room and wandered around the gardens. Any other day, the beauty of the garden and Rivendell would have amazed her, but she just wasn't in that mood. Thorin managed to ruin every single day for her, and she couldn't wait until the quest was over and she could take her gold and leave Thorin behind for good.

"The son of Thrain is good for you," someone said behind her. She turned around, not even startled. Elrond was standing behind her. "I am surprised that you did not flinch. I was being stealthy."

Thruda turned back around, and Elrond came to walk beside her. "I could hear you," she told him. "You crushed a bug with your foot a few feet back."

He smiled. "You are truly a magnificent woman, Thruda," he said. "Like I said before, the son of Thrain would be good for you."

"First Gandalf, now you!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "I hate Thorin, and don't start saying that I love him under all the hatred or anything similar to that! I've already had more than an earful of that shit from Gandalf."

Elrond raised an eyebrow. "You are mad at him because he cheated on you," he told her. "That infers that you are mad at him because you love him."

She groaned. "Please," she said. "Please, can we not talk about this? Thorin isn't the right guy for me. The second I get my gold, I'm leaving and not looking back at him."

"But he has been looking back for years," Elrond reminded her. "He has been looking for you ever since the fall of the Mountain. In fact, this whole adventure is really because of you."

That caused her to stop. "Excuse me?" she asked. "What did I do that caused this?"

"You brought Thorin to Bree-land," Elrond answered. "It is there that he met Gandalf, who realized that the dwarf he had seen was Thrain. So, technically, Thorin's love for you launched this mission."

She didn't answer. She didn't see how Elrond's words affected the situation with Thorin and her. It was obvious that Thorin was still in love with her, but she didn't love him back. If Elrond was trying to make her feel bad and take back Thorin, it really wasn't working. She wasn't that type of girl.

"No, it was Thorin's pride that launched this mission," Thruda snapped. "He could have refused Gandalf, and this mission would never have happened."

Elrond shook his head. "You know that Thorin would never have refused, no matter what the situation was," he said. "Dwarves are stubborn and proud."

"Why are you talking to me like I'm not a dwarf?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. She would have the whole journey with Gandalf talking her ear off, and she didn't need a night full of Elrond's urging.

He turned his head to look at her. "You are not a dwarf. You are half dwarf. The only thing you inherited from them are their height," he said.

"Are you calling me short?" she demanded.

"And maybe your fire-like personality," he added as an afterthought, chuckling. "But you are scared of closed spaces, are you not?"

Thruda growled. "Thorin better not have told you that," she muttered.

"Oh, don't worry. He did not," Elrond reassured her. "I was able to guess. Am I right in saying that you are a horrible blacksmith?" Thruda blushed at the memory of Sharwin taking her to the forge, where she ended up coating his work space in liquid gold that eventually solidified and breaking a few machines. "I take that as a yes. Also, you do not have the same lust for gold that all the others in your company do. I can tell that you were worried about dying when the idea of this quest was brought up." She remembered that night in Bilbo's dining room, where she was thinking that the others were plunging happily to their deaths. "See? You are not much like a dwarf."

Thruda frowned. "Ok, then. I see what you're thinking. But if that's the case, am I more like a wizard? News flash- I'm not. I hate magic."

Elrond shook his head again. "Your mother, Arabella, hated magic. She taught you the same," he said. "There is proof that your wizard side is stronger."

"Where?" she demanded. "Written across my forehead? I don't think so."

"You are a powerful wizard. You were able to better Gandalf when he was healing your ribs. You were able to move the sun," Elrond answered calmly. "I am sure that if you fought with one of the Elf-lords, you would emerge victorious. Imagine all the power that you are wasting, when you could be using it! If only you would let Gandalf or Saruman train you! You could change the world!"

Thruda unhappily observed how much Gandalf and Elrond were alike.

"Lord Elrond, do you know who my father was?" she asked suddenly.

He shook his head. "I am sorry, Thruda. I do not," he said. "Maybe, once this quest is over, you can use some of your gold to find your father." Suddenly, there were twelve rings of a giant bell. Elrond looked at the sky. "Forgive me, but I must take my leave now." With that, he turned back the way he had come, leaving her alone.

Once back in her room, she noticed that Thorin was gone. She wasn't concerned about him (actually, she was hoping that maybe he would get in trouble or something), so she took her sword and bow and went outside to a field of green grass. Elrond had told the dwarves at dinner that this was a weapons-training ground, and that they could destroy whatever they wanted in the area. She looked around, wondering what exactly she was allowed to destroy, as there was nothing there besides grass.

Just as she thought that, dummies popped up. They were all different shapes and sizes; she assumed that they were different species. There were Orcs, wargs, dwarves, humans, Elves... and a lot more. Some things she didn't even recognize. One looked like a giant in black armor.

Thruda grinned and took out her bow. The second she placed her arrow on the bow, the dummies started moving. They all came at her, and she effortlessly took care of most of them. Soon the field was littered with dummies. The only clear spot was a circle around her, and she was extremely satisfied with herself; it had been a while since she'd touched a bow.

Suddenly, she felt a knife at her throat. "Don't move," a rough voice growled. She tensed and felt her magic try to force its way out, but she held it back. If she was going to take her enemy down, it would be in combat.

She kicked her attacker where the sun didn't shine ( a groan told her that her attacker was male), causing him to loosen his hold. She used his lack of balance to use the arm around her neck to flip him, and he landed on the ground in front of her, her leaning on top of him, holding the knife to his throat.

It was Dwalin.

"Now that you know that I'm not going to attack you, would you mind letting me up, lass?" he asked gruffly. Smirking, she jumped off of him and helped him up. "You've gotten better since Erebor."

Thruda gave him her best _no duh_ face. "I'd hope," she said. "It's been quite a few years since we last sparred, Dwalin."

"Then how about a skirmish?" he suggested, hefting his axe and taking back the knife she offered him.

She smirked again. "You're on," she told him. "Just let me tie my hair up." She started braiding her hair.

"Why do you prefer a bow when you're so skilled at the sword?" Dwalin asked her. "Your guard is close to impenetrable when you focus on it. You could be a great swordsman."

Thruda shrugged, thinking. "I think it's something to do with being able to protect my friends and loved ones in a battle and take care of anyone who's a threat to them while hardly moving," she answered. "Do you know what I mean?" Dwalin didn't, and he assumed that it was a girl thing. Girls should really be a different species than boys because they had so many differences. "You do know that it's considered rude to surprise a lady, right?" Thruda asked. Without warning, she swung her sword, Dwalin barely having time to block with his ax. They walked in a wide circle, looking for weaknesses.

"You're hardly a lady, lass," Dwalin told her, swinging out with his ax at her left side. Thruda pushed the ax away with her sword and lunged in, trying to get him in his exposed right ribs. He jumped out of the way, and they went to circling again.

She fake pouted. "Just because I don't act like a lady doesn't mean my gender changed," she said. Then, when he was opening his mouth to reply, she lunged at him. Because he hadn't been prepared, Thruda was able to get her sword through a small open spot of his armor, poking him in the underarm. "My game."

Dwalin shook his head, clearly disgusted with himself, as she sheathed her sword and stuck out her hand. He shook it. "You should really accept Thorin's apology. He's really torn up about whatever you guys broke up about," he told her, taking advantage of her happy moment.

Thruda realized with a shock that Thorin hadn't told anybody why she had broken up with him. She wondered why; it would be easier for Thorin to get advice from Dwalin about how to make it up to her if he told Dwalin the actual problem.

"No," she snapped. She turned around to leave the fighting room, but as she did, she shouted back to him. "I can't forgive him for what he's done."

When Thruda was out of earshot, Dwalin started grumbling. "Stubborn lass," he muttered, pacing the field. "Thorin was a fool to think that I would be able to make a difference." He started attacking a nearby dummy, thinking about how one of his best friends and his younger sister complimented each other.

"Where were you?" Thorin demanded the second Thruda stepped into their shared room. She had almost forgotten about him. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? I had no clue where you had stormed off to, and you were gone for so long-"

Thruda cut him off. "I was at the fighting field, Thorin. I would have thought that you would know that. After all, you know me," she said. She was about to go to sleep when she felt Thorin's hand on her arm. "What?" she demanded.

"I'm trying to make sure that you survive this quest," he said quietly. "Don't you understand that I'm trying to protect you?"

She glared. "Really? Right now, it seems like you're trying to annoy the hell out of me," she snapped.

"Fine, then," Thorin said. He headed back over to his bed and laid down. "Who were you meeting?"

"Nobody!" Thruda exclaimed. "Can I at least train without you thinking that I'm doing something else?"

Thorin groaned. "Can I at least ask a question without you jumping down my throat?" he asked.

She jumped out of bed and grabbed her bag. "That's it," she snapped. "I'm leaving. Good night, Thorin." She walked out and slammed the door closed behind her. In her anger, she hadn't realized that she had walked into the corridor where Bilbo's room was located. The thought of hanging out with Bilbo soothed her, and she felt her eyes turning green. She took a deep breath and knocked on his door.

Bilbo opened the door, drowsy and hair sticking up everywhere. "Thruda? What's up?" he mumbled, half asleep. "Aren't you sharing with Thorin?"

"I was. I kicked myself out because he was being an ass," Thruda answered. "Do you mind if I crash here for the night? If you don't that's fine..."

His eyes widened, and she could tell that he was awake now. "No, it's fine! Come on in!" he exclaimed, stepping out of the doorway and letting her step in. A quick glance around the room told her that it was the same as her old one, except for bed. While she and Thorin had had two twin beds, Bilbo had one queen. Thruda wondered how she and Bilbo were going to sleep. "You can take the bed, I'll just grab a few pillows and sleep on the ground," Bilbo said.

She turned to him and shook her head. "No way, it's your room," she protested. "Besides, I'm used to sleeping on the ground. You need a bed for a good night's sleep. I'll just need a pillow."

Bilbo passed her one of the pillows from his bed, looking a little uneasy. "Are you sure?" he asked. Thruda nodded as she took the pillow and put it on the ground.

"It's fine. I'm already asking a lot to stay in your room," Thruda said. "Good night, Bilbo."

He blew out the candle on the nightstand. "Good night, Thruda."


	8. Chapter 7

"Leave me alone, Thorin," Thruda growled. "You're going to spook her."

It had been a few days since the Company had left Rivendell, and a few of the ponies had gotten rocks in their horseshoes, so they had to stop. Since she had a way with animals, Thruda had been volunteered by Gandalf to help out and take the rocks out. Gandalf had also volunteered Thorin as her assistant.

"I'm supposed to be your assistant, Thruda," Thorin reminded Thruda, walking closer. The pony that she was working on let out a neigh and reared, almost taking her head off.

Thruda hurried around to its side and stroked its neck, trying to calm it. In a few seconds, it was standing still again, but it was eyeing Thorin warily. "Thanks a lot, Thorin," Thruda said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "That's why I wanted you to leave me alone. You scare animals." He started muttering and went to sit on a nearby rock. "Can you switch with Bilbo?"

His eyes widened, then narrowed. "Why do you want the hobbit?" he demanded.

"Because _the hobbit_ is gentle enough to work with animals and not spook them," Thruda angrily told him. She shivered from the cold; the higher they got, the colder it was. Thorin muttered some curses and went off to find Bilbo. In a few seconds, the hobbit was beside Thruda, working on another pony's hoof.

In a half hour (there were a lot of ponies with rocks in their shoes), they were moving again. Both Gandalf and Thorin were upset at the delay, but Thorin showed it more than Gandalf. He was extremely cross, so that meant that he was in a bad mood and taking it out on everyone else. That got Thruda aggravated because he was being a jerk, which got Bilbo aggravated because she wasn't talking to anyone, which got Gandalf aggravated because of the obvious tension between the three of them, which got basically everyone aggravated besides Fili and Kili. Once the twins noticed that nobody was in a good mood, they shut up and didn't say anything for the rest of the day.

Towards nighttime, it started pouring like a hurricane. In a few seconds, everyone and everything was soaked to the bone. Everyone was in an even worse mood than they had been earlier in the day. It was cold enough without the rain and winds.

"Here," Thorin said gruffly, noticing Thruda shiver. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, yanking the hood over her head. Now he didn't have a coat, and Thruda had two.

"Thanks," she replied, startled and grateful. Then she hated herself for being grateful. She was supposed to hate him, and she felt like he was mad at her, too. So what had caused this act of kindness?

Thorin glanced at Thruda, concerned. He could tell that she was still cold, and he would turn into an iceblock soon without a coat. Not that he would let her give the coat back to him. Then he saw a sheer cliff. "Let us try to take shelter there!" he shouted. None of the dwarves reacted, and he assumed that they couldn't hear him because of the winds. Only Thruda, who was next to him, could hear him.

"Let's take shelter by the cliff!" she shouted to Bilbo. "Pass it on!" Soon the message was given to everybody else, and they all headed to the cliff.

It didn't do much. They were still cold, and some rain still got to them. There was no way they could make a fire, so it was either freeze to death or try to find a new shelter. "Fili, Kili. Go scout ahead," Thorin ordered. The two dwarves jumped up, taking their weapons and heading off. The rest of the Company waited in silence for them to return. Thorin and Bilbo were on either side of Thruda, trying to keep her warm. She was grateful, but she still felt bad for Thorin because he didn't have a coat.

Thruda decided to do something that she had never tried to do before; call her magic and control it. She made a fist and focused on the inside of it, willing her magic to do what she wanted. She felt her magic run through her veins and focus on her fist. It took all of her power not to let it explode and probably knock everyone off the mountain to their certain deaths.

When she opened her fist, a little fire was on her hand. It wouldn't burn anybody (it was magic, after all) but if out of contact with a living being, it would die out. Thruda passed the fire to Thorin, who gave her a small smile before using it to warm himself. Gandalf gave Thruda a small smile, but she wasn't sure if it was because she had willingly used magic or because she had looked at Thorin without getting in an argument with him. She glared at Gandalf, and Thorin let out a shout. Thruda turned to see that he had dropped the fire, and it had gone out.

"Sorry," he apologized. "It burned me."

Thruda looked at his hands, which had burn marks. She felt bad; her anger at Gandalf had probably made the fire burn Thorin. So when she was using magic, she had to make sure to control her emotions.

"It's okay," she said. "It's my fault. My magic got out of control." She was about to make another fire when Fili and Kili came running back excitedly. They told the other dwarves about a cave nearby that would fit all of them. They jumped up and followed them back into the rain to the cave. After a few miserable minutes, they entered the cave and exited the rain. "Is it safe?" Thruda asked, looking around nervously. "Some people in Bree-land were talking about goblins in these parts."

Thorin looked around the cave. "I think it's safe," he announced. He ran his hands along the wall, feeling for hidden openings, as Gandalf scanned the area with magic. They both said the same thing; the cave was safe. They would stay for the night then set out tomorrow. She still felt uneasy, but she took out her bedroll after returning Thorin's coat.

Outside, she heard a lot of banging that didn't seem to come from the storm. The dwarves hurried to the mouth of the cave and glanced out.

"Bless me! The legends are true!" Bofur shouted. "It's the stone giants!"

It seemed like the mountains had taken on a humanoid form. They were throwing rocks at each other and fighting, causing all the banging noises that they had heard in the cave. A misthrow of a rock from one of the giants came speeding towards their cave, and Thruda held up her hands in front of her to block her face from the rocks.

But it never came.

There was grey light coming from Gandalf's staff, covering most of the entrance from the cave, but that wasn't the only thing blocking the cave mouth. Red light, stronger and brighter than Gandalf's, came pouring out of her own bare hands, supporting Gandalf's light and doing most of the work. Thruda's eyes widened in shock, and the red shield fell. The rest of the dwarves stared at her in shock, but without another word, Thruda went over to her bedroll and laid down on it.

She fell asleep right away, despite her wariness of their surroundings and her recent use of magic. Some people told her that even though she was a girl, Thruda snored the loudest out of the whole group, and on that night, Thruda had to agree. It turned out that it would save their lives.

Bilbo tossed and turned on his bedroll next to Thruda, trying to get some sleep. Her snores kept him awake and intruded in his peace of mind. He tried plugging his ears, but he could still hear her through his fingers. What he would have given for a piece of wax right then...

Then he saw the back wall of the cave cracking. At first he thought that it was a cave-in, but then he saw a few figures slip out. Goblins. He leaned over and poked Thruda, his heart beating with fear as the goblins looked over the dwarves with greedy eyes.

Thruda's eyes opened, and she turned to Bilbo with her mouth open, probably to ask him why he had woken her up, when Bilbo put his hand on her mouth. He pointed with his eyes to the goblins, and she nodded. Barely making a sound, she slipped out her bow.

"Goblins!" she shouted, jumping up and shooting at the nearest ones. The other dwarves woke up in an instant and joined in on the fighting. Bilbo slipped to the back of the group and drew his sword, not wanting to join the killing spree but not wanting to seem defenseless.

There was a big bang and a flash of light from Gandalf, and two of the goblins dropped dead. Thruda, from her spot in the middle of the group and back to back with Thorin (much to her displeasure), was the only one who noticed he was gone. She could barely begin to wonder why when she felt goblin fingers around her throat, tugging her backwards. She tried breaking his grip, but that just made him laugh.

"Put down your weapons or we'll kill her!" the goblin holding Thruda said. The sound of metal against metal stopped when the dwarves realized what had happened.

Everyone looked towards Thorin, waiting for his decision. Thorin looked from his Company, his people, to Thruda, who was struggling to breathe in the goblin's grasp. He could see the fear in her eyes. With a curse, he tossed his sword down. The others followed suit, and the goblin holding Thruda tossed her back to the dwarves as other goblins grabbed the dwarves' weapons. She stumbled forward, and Thorin caught her before she fell face-first onto the floor of the cave, holding her hand.

The goblins then shoved them single file into the hole in the cave wall that led down to the goblin kingdom. Thruda was one of the first ones, and she felt Thorin's hand being torn from hers as she stumbled through the wall.

" _Clap! Snap! The black crack! Grip, Grab! Pinch, nab! And down down to Goblin-town you go, my lad! Clash, crash! Crush, smash! Hammer and tongs! Knocker and gongs! Pound, pound, far underground! Ho, ho! My lad! Swish, smash! Whip crack! Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat! Work, work! Not dare to shirk, while Goblins quaff, and Goblins laugh, round and round far underground, below, my lad!_ " they sang. Thruda tried to shake them off, but they didn't let her.

"You call that music?" Thruda complained, referring to their song. "That's _so_ off! You can't have an augmented 4th, it's called a devil's chord for a reason!" Her musician instincts were literally aching at the horrible composition of their song.

Far behind her, she heard Thorin shouting. It took her a few seconds to realize what he was shouting. "Thruda! Thruda! Get your hands off her, you filthy goblins!"

"Thorin!" Thruda shouted back, trying to twist around to see him and the rest of the dwarves. However, the goblins didn't let her and turned her forward again. She settled for turning her head to see them. "Bilbo! Is everybody okay?"

Everybody shouted back, answers ranging from "yeah" to "no" to "decent."

Sooner than she wanted, the dwarves were shoved into the throne room, and their weapons (which the goblins had been carrying) were tossed in front of a giant throne, which belonged to the ugliest, fattest goblin of the bunch (aka, the Great Goblin). Thruda waited to see her beautiful bow and quiver and Thorin's grandmother's sword, but they weren't there. When she looked at the pile closely, she saw that there were a lot less weapons in the pile than they had brought with them. Had the goblins taken some of the weapons for themselves before they presented them to the Great Goblin?

"What do we have here?" the Great Goblin asked coldly, looking at each of them in turn. Thruda shivered as his gaze lingered on her longer than the rest, and not necessarily on her face. Thorin, who also noticed, struggled to break away from his chains, which earned him a smack on the back of his head from the goblin guarding him.

"Thirteen dwarves," one goblin answered. "And these two." He pointed to Bilbo and Thruda.

She straightened, indignant. "I'm a dwarf, thank you very much!" she exclaimed shrilly. She was ignored.

"What are you doing here?" the Great Goblin demanded.

Thorin was about to say something snappy, but Thruda caught his attention and shook her head. She stepped forward. "Your Greatness, we were merely passing by to visit our relatives on the other side of the mountains," she told him, bowing. "A great storm struck, and we saw a cave and made camp. We did not know that it was the entrance to your magnificent kingdom." Thruda laid the flattery on as much as she could.

For a second it seemed that the Great Goblin was going to let them go, but one of the goblins spoke up. "That does not explain why they have this, sir!" he said, and he tossed Thorin's sword in front of the Great Goblin. Thruda wondered what was so special about it, but then she realized that it was Thorin's Elven blade that he had taken from the trolls. She was pretty sure that Elrond had said that that sword was called Orcrist (Goblin-cleaver), but she hadn't been paying attention at the time and hadn't thought anything of bringing it along.

The Great Goblin let out a howl and jumped. "Biter!" he exclaimed. "That sword slew many of our ancestors during the Goblin Wars!" He turned to them in anger. "Where did you get this from?"

Again, Thorin was going to say something, but Thruda beat him to it. "We found it on the road, sir," she answered calmly. "We were traveling when raiders came and took all of our food and weapons. After traveling a few miles, we came across three trolls that had been turned to stone, and we figured that there was a treasure cave somewhere that we could use to replenish our supplies. That is where we found all of the weapons you hold before you." Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other dwarves shoot her approving looks.

"Then how do you have the food we found in your packs?" the goblin guard standing by Thruda hissed.

"We stayed at a friend's house, where our supplies were replenished," she told him readily.

The Great Goblin leaned forward. "Whose house?" he asked.

Thruda hesitated, not wanting to bring Elrond's name into the conversation.

"Very well, then," the Great Goblin said. "If you won't tell us willingly, we'll get the truth out of you one by one. Start with the youngest one." The goblins moved towards Ori, but then the Great Goblin held up his hand to gesture to them to stop. They did. "Forget about that. We'll start with the female." Then he grinned.

"Stop!" Thorin shouted. "Leave her alone!"

The Great Goblin turned to Thorin. "And who is this?" he asked.

Thorin's chin jutted up defiantly. "Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain," Thorin declared proudly, his eyes flashing. "And you will leave her alone."

The Great Goblin scratched his head. "Ah, Erebor," he said. "Taken by Smaug, the last I remember. So, if you have no mountain, what are you, oh great King Without a Mountain?" The despicable goblin laughed at his own joke. "I know someone who would pay a good price for your head," he continued. "Just the head, of course. Nothing attached." With a wave of his hand, he ordered, "Kill him. "

"No!" Thruda shouted, and she tried to loosen the goblin's grip on her so that she could help Thorin. She was unsuccessful and ignored.

But before anybody do anything, the lights went out and there was a flash that came from a sword. Thruda recognized it as Glamdring, Gandalf's sword. She breathed out a sigh of relief and used the darkness to crawl towards the weapon pile, grabbing Orcrist as the present goblins turned to face Gandalf. She did an awkward slice with the sword and cut the ropes that were binding her hands together.

"Where is Thruda?" she heard Thorin ask from where he had been standing before the lights had gone out. Luckily, Gandalf was keeping everyone occupied, so the goblins forgot about the dwarves.

"Here," Thruda answered. "I have Orcrist; I'm cutting everyone free." After a few seconds, she had found her way back to the dwarves and started cutting the ropes off. Soon they were all free, and they grabbed their weapons from the pile. Thruda handed Orcrist back to Thorin.

Then they heard Gandalf call, "To me, you fools!" They hurried towards him, where he led them into the tunnels, goblins not far behind . Most of the time, Thruda would have been petrified of the close walls and ceiling, but she was too scared of being beheaded by a goblin. She was near the front, next to Thorin and behind Gandalf. Thruda sincerely hoped that Gandalf knew where he was going, or else they would all end up as dwarf, hobbit, and wizard stew.

With Gandalf leading, they weaved their way through the goblin tunnels, fighting as they did. Thruda did some particularly good slices and took down numerous goblins. She watched as some of the dwarves placed a nearby ladder over the heads of the goblins running at them and threw them off of a bridge that they were passing and as Gandalf let loose a giant boulder and let it roll down the path ahead of them, causing the goblins ahead of them to be crushed and killed.

They had been running peacefully for a few minutes when they heard the goblins getting closer. "Gandalf, they're trying to ambush us!" Thruda shouted.

"Thorin and Thruda, join me in the rear to take care of these goblins. Everyone else, keep moving!" Gandalf ordered. She stood behind Thorin and Gandalf, who were shoulder to shoulder.

"Where's your bow?" Thorin asked.

She silently cursed herself. "The goblins didn't put it in the weapon pile. They must have taken it for themselves," she answered. "As well as your grandmother's sword and a few of our other weapons. I don't know where they are now."

"I do," Gandalf answered. "You were able to save them, Thruda. When you saw that the goblins were coming to kidnap us in the cave, you were able to use your powers and hide them in a plane that wizards call Storage. Try taking it out."

"How?" Thruda demanded, her voice panicked. "What happens if I can't get it out, what happens if I lost all of our weapons?"

Gandalf chopped down the first goblin, and Thorin took down the second. "Imagine that you're reaching into a storage area!" he shouted over the clang of his sword.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "There's a cabinet right next to you, Thruda. Your bow and the other weapons are in there. All you have to do is open the cabinet and take it out," she muttered under her breath. "Because reaching into thin air for a cabinet isn't a sign of mental instability." Thorin snorted in laughter as he chopped down a few goblins. Eyes still closed, she reached her hand into the air to the right of her. To her surprise, her hand closed around her bow and quiver. She took it out and closed the mental cabinet. Then she went to work.

For most of the fight, she was reminded of the fighting clearing in Rivendell, where all the dummies rushed at her. Even though there was a lot less space, she was able to shoot a lot of the goblins, and soon there was a nice, tall pile of dead goblins between the three of them and the goblin army.

"Surrender!" she suddenly heard a voice call from behind them. Thruda turned to see a horde of goblins, each one holding a dwarf. Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Nori, Dori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur... but no Bilbo.

She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or worried about that.

Gandalf slowly placed his sword on the ground in front of him, then Thorin. Thruda grumpily tossed her bow and quiver down, as well, and they were led away by even more goblins.


	9. Chapter 8

They were all disarmed and shoved into a small cave that had just enough room for them. "We will be guarding out here, so if you try to get away..." One of the goblins drew a line with his hand across his throat. He laughed and slammed the door to their prison closed behind him.

"What are we going to do?" Thruda asked as soon as the door was closed. "We're going to try to escape, right? We're not just going to let them do whatever they want with us. I mean, we have gold to get!"

Thorin looked at Gandalf. "We're going to do something. I just don't know what," Thorin said, still looking at Gandalf. Thruda could tell that he wanted Gandalf to come up with this magical (literally) plan that would whisk them away from the caves.

"I do not have a plan, if that is what you are asking," Gandalf told Thorin. "Only Thruda and I can teleport, and if that is the case we can only take one other person with us. So we can't teleport."

Fili leaned forward. "We can blow the door out!" he exclaimed.

"Nope," Thruda said. "Gandalf lost his staff, so we don't have any magic here."

"You have magic, Thruda," about half of the dwarves reminded her at once.

Gandalf nodded. "And you have used magic without a staff," he agreed.

She shook her head. "I can't. I can't, I can't, I can't," she said, putting her head in her hands. She had an inner conflict warring inside her; saving her friends and breaking the beliefs that she had held all of her life, or upholding her principals and possibly getting all of them killed. Then an excuse came to her. "And I've always had some way to channel it. I used my sword in the past, in the one time that I wanted to control my magic. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be any help."

There was silence in the cave for a few minutes. Everybody, even Fili and Kili, were quiet as they all tried to think of a plan. Suddenly, the door to their cave opened, and three goblins came in. Two of them pointed spears at the dwarves while the other stood slightly behind them and was unarmed.

"Dwarves, and dwarves only," the goblin that was behind the others said. "You are needed in the presence of the Interrogator." He left the cave, but the other two goblins stayed to make sure that all of the dwarves came.

Thruda was the last in line and was about to step out, but the two goblins' spears crossed in front of her. "Dwarves only," one of them growled.

"But I am a dwarf!" she protested.

The goblin shook his head. "Hybrid," he said, pushing her back into the cave.

"Thorin!" Thruda called, pushing against the spears with worry filling her. "Thorin!"

He turned around at the sound of his name and analyzed the situation pretty quickly. "Thruda!" he shouted back. He was going to return to her side when two other goblins came out of the shadows and blocked his path with spears. They pushed him forward, but he struggled to get past them. When they were close to turning the corner and Thorin saw that it was useless to struggle anymore, he told her, "Don't worry! We'll be back!" Then he rounded the corner and was gone. The two goblins uncrossed their spears and closed the door as they left the prison cell.

She collapsed onto the ground by the door, sobbing. Thorin was going to the "Interrogator," probably to be tortured for information about why they really were here. Bilbo was missing and was probably dead. There was no chance of rescue for them. Their quest had failed.

"We're not gone yet, Thruda," Gandalf said as he sat down behind her. She had almost forgotten that he hadn't gone with the dwarves. "Remember Storage?"

Thruda stared at him, realizing what he meant. "You want us to teleport to the dwarves, shove them in Storage, and pull them out when we're safe?" she asked dubiously. He nodded. "What would happen if we died? Nobody could take them out of Storage. And what about Bilbo, then? We don't know that he's dead."

Gandalf nodded, deep in thought. "We do not know where to teleport to so that we can pick up the dwarves, and I don't want to be wandering around the goblin kingdom unarmed. We will have to wait for Thorin to be tortured," he said.

"What?" Thruda demanded shrilly.

He ignored her. "That should let us know where we must teleport to. Then you shall teleport out with any of the wounded, and I shall lead the rest of the others out and hope to find our weapons and Bilbo," he told her.

"Why Thorin?" she asked. Suddenly, she felt a sharp stab of pain. She gasped and doubled over. In a few seconds the pain was gone, but then another came. It seemed to be coming from her mind, so she closed the mental connection that she had with whatever it was. "What was that?"

Gandalf looked at her necklace. "The necklace that Thorin gave you has magical properties," he answered. "Thorin has a necklace that is twin to yours. When you are both wearing them, you can communicate telepathically, tell where the other is, and tell when the other is in pain. That was why Thorin needed to be tortured first, so that it opened the telepathic bond between you two and you could find out where he was."

Thruda nodded, not sure to be upset at Thorin for giving her a necklace that had magical properties that allowed him to spy on her without her knowing it or grateful that she now knew where the dwarves were. "So, shall we go?" she asked.

"No! If we teleport in now, we'll have to kill however many goblins are in the room with Thorin!" Gandalf exclaimed.

Anger flew through her veins. "So goblin lives are more important than sparing Thorin pain?" she demanded.

"Of course not!" Gandalf said. "But getting everybody out safely is more important! The goblins could have time to alert other goblins, and since all of us are unarmed, we won't be able to fight back. We need to wait until the goblins have finished with Thorin."

So that was how she ended up pacing the cell, opening the connection with Thorin again and sending him words of assurance. She didn't tell him the plan because she didn't want him spilling it to the goblins, but she was there for him, a presence in his mind. She could tell that he was grateful for that.

"You love him," Gandalf told Thruda after a few minutes.

Thruda glared at him. "Do not," I snapped.

"Then why are you so concerned about him?" Gandalf asked. She didn't reply, causing him to chuckle.

Then she felt the pain stop for a while. Thorin wasn't dead, she was sure of that. _"Are there any goblins in the room with you_?" she asked after a few minutes.

" _No_ ," Thorin answered. Then he disappeared from her mind. She assumed that he had closed the connection between them.

She opened her eyes and turned to Gandalf. "It's time," she told him. "I'll teleport you because you don't know where to go." Because of her necklace, she felt where Thorin's presence was. It was like knowing where her arm was.

Gandalf took her hand. "Remember, this is your first time teleporting," he said. "Clear your mind of anything besides your destination. Soon an image of your destination should appear in the corner of your mind. Focus on it and will yourself there. It helps if you close your eyes."

Thruda closed her eyes and focused on Thorin and the room that he was in. Nothing appeared in her mind. Her heart started to speed up. Why wasn't it working? Why couldn't she teleport? She could see an image of the room from Thorin's point of view, but she just couldn't will herself there. What would happen if she couldn't teleport and they were stuck in the goblin kingdom forever?

Then it seemed like the ground was gone. Thruda felt like she was twirling around in circles as she was fell downwards. She resisted the urge to barf as she felt her feet land on sturdy ground. She stumbled forward a few steps and opened her eyes. It had worked. They were in Thorin's room.

He was unconscious on the bed in the corner of the room. There was a table next to him filled with bloody torture tools. It looked like most of the blood on them was dry, though, so they probably hadn't been used on Thorin. The only one with wet blood on it was a plain knife. Thorin had a few deep cuts and a few shallow ones, but she saw no reason why he was knocked out. Then she saw the skillet on the ground next to the bed and the bump on the back of his head.

"Real intelligent. Knock out a prisoner with a skillet," Thruda muttered as she went over to him. Any other time, she would have made a joke about the stupidity of goblins, but she didn't. She turned to Gandalf. "Do you think any of the others are wounded?"

Gandalf walked to the door of the room and opened it slightly. "No. All of the dwarves are in the other room here, guarded by one goblin," he told her. Before she could ask him how he was planning on taking care of the goblin, Gandalf strode out of the room, and after a little grunting, Gandalf came back in. "I shoved him into Storage," he explained. Thruda laughed as the rest of the dwarves entered the room.

"Thruda, take Thorin and leave here. We will meet a mile east of the back entrance," Gandalf told her.

She hesitated, looking at all of the dwarves. Could she leave them to save herself and Thorin? Of course, there was a chance that they would get out safely by themselves, but their chances of survival would be increased if Thruda stayed with them.

"You guys all promise me that you're gonna get out safe, right?" she said, talking to all of them. They nodded, and there were a few muttered words that she didn't catch. She had a sudden feeling of deja vu. She had fled the battle with Thorin when Smaug attacked, too. "Ok, then. I'll see you on the other side." She grabbed Thorin and teleported near the back entrance of the goblin's kingdom. She felt slightly bad about leaving the rest of the Company, but she knew that they would be able to get out themselves. Hopefully.

As she laid Thorin down on the ground gently, he began to stir. His eyes opened and stared into hers. "Wha?" he muttered, still groggy. "Thruda? What happened? Where are we?"

Relief flooded through her veins, and she wrapped him in a tight hug before she really thought about what she was doing. He hugged her back, bewildered. "I thought you were dead!" she exclaimed, clinging tightly to him.

Thorin rubbed her back, soothing her. "We made it out, Thruda," he told her. "Relax." Then he stiffened. He pulled out of the hug and looked around. "Where's the others?"

"They told me to go ahead with you," Thruda told him. "You're injured, and I could only teleport one person out, so they chose us to get out. They're coming, though. They're probably fighting their way out now."

Thorin tried to stand up, but she pushed him down. "We should go help them!" he protested, trying to get up.

"Stop it, Thorin," Thruda said firmly. "You have a giant bump on your head and you have some pretty deep cuts. At least let me heal you before you try to stand up, or else you're just going to do more damage."

After a little more convincing, he stayed down as Thruda treated his wounds. Honestly, she wasn't that good at healing, but she used a little of her magic to help heal Thorin's wounds.

"Thruda! You're using magic!" Thorin exclaimed, surprised.

She nodded. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she told him.

Thorin went on as if he hadn't heard her. "That's amazing! Two wizards! This quest will be easier than I thought if Gandalf can just train you!" he continued. He was about to say more before Thruda cut him off.

"Oi!" she shouted over him. He shut up and stared at her with a bewildered expression. "I'm not learning magic, okay? Even though I'm using magic, it's only because we'd be dead if I didn't. I'll only use magic on this quest if its a life or death thing." Thorin was about to say more, but Thruda cut him off again. "Please don't," she said. He nodded.

For a few minutes, they sat together in silence. Then Thorin jumped up, pacing up and down. "I can't just sit here and wait for them to come out! We have to go back!"

Thruda glanced at the mountain. "I don't know, Thorin," she said. "If everyone dies in there, we'll die, too, and nobody will keep the quest moving. Our quest could die with us. Smaug will live on the mountain with the gold for the rest of his life."

"You think that I don't know that? I know that you're thinking about the long run here, but our friends can die!" Thorin exclaimed. "We can't just let them die for us out there!"

She stood up and took Thorin's hands in hers. He was getting more agitated by the minute. She had to stop him before he did something rash. "Alright, we'll go, but calm down first," she told him. He looked into her eyes, which caused him to calm slightly. She rubbed small circles on his hands, trying to relax him more.

Thorin took a deep breath and sat down right where he was. Thruda sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and when she turned to look at him, she saw that he was showing more weakness than he ever had before. She could tell that he was torn up about leaving everyone in the goblin kingdom.

After a second of hesitation, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "That's your fatal flaw, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "Loyalty. I thought it was pride all these years, but it's not, isn't it?" He nodded, his face still conflicted. "Pride is your type of shield," she continued. "That's how you hide what you really feel." He nodded again. "I never knew."

"Nobody knew," Thorin said, lifting his head and making eye contact with her. "I kept it hidden from everyone, even you, when we were dating. I didn't want anybody to know that I had a weakness. I wasn't raised like that." He took a deep breath. "Now I realize how much you really mean to me. And I show my true self to you. That's why I act differently than you. That's why Gandalf says that you bring out a different side of me."

Thruda was silent for a while, not sure what to say. This Thorin was different than the one from the Lonely Mountain all those years ago. He wasn't as afraid of showing weakness... Ok, maybe he was, but he was willing to open up to her, the girl that had claimed to hate him.

After a while, she stood up. Thorin looked at her curiously as she held her hand out to him. "We're going back in," she told him.

His expression turned from confused to grateful as he accepted her hand up. She was about to teleport out before he said, "I don't see why you're doing this. You hate me."

Thruda looked into his eyes and got lost in them, remembering all of the times that he had looked at her with love. She shook her head to clear it. "I don't know what I feel about you now," she answered.


	10. Chapter 9

"Thruda!" she heard someone shout as she appeared in the goblin kingdom with Thorin, and she turned around. Gandalf was surrounded by dozens of goblins, but there was a clean circle around him that instantly gave off the message "do not cross on fear of death because I am a badass wizard." Not that it actually said that. "Why are you here?"

It was then that she realized that everyone had their weapons back and were fighting goblins. Seeing that they were unarmed, a goblin ran at Thorin and Thruda. Thorin pushed her out of the way and used its momentum to flip the goblin onto the ground, where he lay, unconscious.

"Helping you!" Thruda called back. Gandalf looked upset at her poor judgment, but he tossed her her weapons and Thorin Orcrist. Thruda reckoned that he had found the armory. Thorin immediately sliced down the nearest goblins, and she went back to back with him as she alternated between shooting and slicing.

Thruda heard a shout from behind her, and she saw that Thorin had locked swords with a goblin and couldn't get out. The goblin, because of its superior size, was forcing the two swords closer to Thorin. Without thinking, she turned from her fight and helped Thorin push the goblin back with her sword. It fell backwards, and she smoothly switched to her bow, planting an arrow in his chest.

"Saved you!" Thruda told Thorin as she turned back to her side.

He rolled his eyes. "Did not! I could have handled it!" he protested as he hacked down some more goblins. She suddenly found herself getting caught up in the focus in his eyes as he chopped down goblin after goblin... and she was leaving her side undefended. She was brought back to earth with a jolt when there was a clang a few inches away from her face. She turned around to see that Thorin had locked blades with a goblin that was about to chop her head off. Thorin pushed him back and gave him a brutal kick to the stomach. "Saved you!" he teased.

"Oh yeah?" Thruda demanded, focusing on fighting again. "If you kill less goblins than I do by the end of this, you're in my debt, and visa versa!"

"If one of us dies, do we still have to keep the bet?" Thorin asked.

"Yup! There's such thing as an afterlife!" she answered merrily.

Thorin rolled his eyes. "You're on!" he shouted.

Thruda raised an eyebrow as she shot a few more goblins and chopped through even more. "You're a goner, Oakenshield!" she told him, noticing that the rest of the dwarves were grinning at their conversation.

"Oakenshield?" Thorin asked. "That's a new one."

As she killed another dozen goblins (keeping careful count of how many she killed), Thruda shrugged. "I was going to call you a git and a prat with mental issues and a pride issue, but I figured that was rude," she answered.

He laughed, almost tripping onto a goblin's spear because he wasn't paying attention. She pulled him up before he could get impaled. "You should get a foul for that," she told him laughingly. "Or I should get a bonus."

"Oh, shut up, hybrid," he joked. Then he froze, wondering if what he had called her would get his head chopped off by her sword.

But she just laughed, causing him to relax. "You're hilarious, Oakenshield," she called back. "You think that you could shut my big mouth up?"

"Shut up, you lovebirds!" Gandalf shouted. "You have fighting to do!" They laughed as Gandalf gave them a look that was somewhat sharp but also somewhat happy.

Thorin was about to kill another goblin when Thruda slipped on a dead goblin's hand. She fell forward, almost falling face-first into a bunch of goblins. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, dropping his sword onto the ground. Once pulling her back towards their safe little circle, he pulled too hard and ended up leaning towards the other edge of the circle, almost falling into the goblin horde there. Now this time she was pulling him up. "We're even," he told her before she could say anything else. She rolled her eyes and covered Thorin as he picked up his sword.

"Follow me!" Gandalf told them. "I know where the exit is!" Thorin and Thruda instantly moved away from their little circle and inched towards Gandalf, taking down goblins as they did.

Thruda blocked one from getting Ori, then chopped its head off. "How many did you kill?" she asked Thorin.

"Fifty-nine!" he answered, then he blocked a goblin's spear and sliced at the same goblin. "Sixty, now! How about you?"

Smirking, Thruda answered, "Sixty-one."

"Oh, that's it," Thorin said. He went out of his way to kill another one. "We're even!"

She rolled her eyes and pushed him forwards, away from harm. Thruda brought up the rear of the group and started shooting the goblins, making sure that they didn't come within a ten foot radius of them. "Oh, grow up," she replied. "Now I got sixty-eight. There's an advantage of using a bow and arrow."

He took the bow from Thruda, aggravated, and switched positions so that he was now the one covering her. "If you die, Thorin Oakenshield, I'm going to kill you," she snapped as she heard her bowstring sing.

"Should I assume that you're going to be killing me in the afterlife, then?" he quipped as he shot a goblin that was getting slightly too close for comfort. "Seventy-five," he told her, passing her back the bow and switching again. She pushed Thorin forward and shot a few more.

Thorin glanced ahead. "Gandalf is going ahead with the rest of the dwarves; he's trusting us to hold the fort here," he said.

"And... seventy-six!" Thruda exclaimed, shooting the last goblin. She looked around for more opponents, but she realized that none were there. "We got them! And I WON!" she started doing a happy dance, jumping up and down and shaking her head wildly while laughing. She looked so ridiculous that Thorin started laughing, as well. Then she saw the one that she had clearly shot straight through the heart jump up and wave to someone behind him. In a few seconds, an even bigger horde of goblins came running out from another room. "Or not," she muttered.

They looked at each other, eyes wide. "RUN!" they yelled as one, and they forgot about killing them. She ran full steam ahead, making sure that Thorin was safe and wasn't in danger of getting run over by an angy horde of goblins.

In just a few seconds, they caught up to Gandalf and the other dwarves. Bilbo still wasn't there, but she didn't have time to worry about it. "Goblins," Thruda panted, out of breath from the run.

"Horde," Thorin added.

"Coming!" they shouted together.

Gandalf leapt into action immediately. "Everybody, run!" he ordered, and all the dwarves besides Thorin and Thruda ran. Gandalf turned to see them standing by him, one on each side. "Get going, you two!"

Thorin and Thruda shared a glance. "No," Thorin said to Gandalf. "We don't desert friends."

"Besides," she continued, "we have a goblin-killing competition to finish." She threw a smirk at Thorin before readying her bow.

"Curse the stubbornness of dwarves!" Gandalf hissed, but he didn't send them away. Thorin sent her a victorious grin, which she sent back.

Then Thorin remembered that she had a bow. He turned to the running dwarves. "Kili, your bow!" he shouted, and Kili tossed Thorin his bow before running full speed ahead again. "Looks like we're even," he said to Thruda. She rolled her eyes.

Goblins came three by three out of the exit. Thruda took care of the ones on the right side, Thorin took care of the ones on the left side, and Gandalf got the ones on the middle. It was actually kind of pathetic. In a few minutes the doorway was totally blocked by dead goblin bodies.

"Let's go!" Gandalf roared, and he ran. Thorin and Thruda were right beside him, hoping that the barrier of dead goblins would hold long enough for them to get a nice head start.

They soon caught up to the other dwarves, who had slowed down and were arguing about going back for them. The three of them merged into the group effortlessly, and they started running for a good five minutes.

"Halt!" Gandalf cried. They stopped running, panting for breath. "I think we are at a safe distance."

Thruda laughed. "We'd better be," she replied. "I never realized how out of shape I was until now." That caused everyone, even Gandalf, to chuckle. Then she looked at Thorin. "Well, I'm always able to beat Thorin, no matter what shape I'm in."

Thorin rolled his eyes. "You didn't beat me," he said. "We ran right next to each other the whole time. And, anyway, we tied for the goblin-slaying competition."

Kili looked upset. "You had a goblin-slaying competition and you didn't tell us?" he asked, sounding heartbroken.

"Yeah, Uncle, I thought you liked us!" Fili exclaimed, sounding just as pouty.

Thruda rolled her eyes. "Oh, grow up, you two," she said. "And last time I checked, I got eighty-five when you got eighty-four.

"Nope," he replied with a satisfied smirk. "You're counting the last one that you shot in the cave, but he jumped back up, so you didn't kill him."

Frowning, Thruda muttered, "Well, if it wasn't so stubbornly staying alive, I would have won." Thorin, who was the only one close enough to hear her, chuckled.

A voice interrupted them. "Where is our burglar?" Gandalf asked before Thorin could reply. Gandalf looked around, trying to find Bilbo. Thruda started to get nervous and looked around as well.

"We should break into groups and try to find him," she said immediately. "He could be around here somewhere. He may have been able to escape because of the ruckus we made and followed us. Maybe a few of us should go back into the goblin kingdom to find him."

Thorin shook his head. "He has left us," he told them all. "The hobbit saw a chance to escape from us and this quest, and he took it. We number fourteen once more."

"Bilbo wouldn't leave us," Thruda snapped at him.

"Then where do you think he is? He clearly was not captive of the goblins, or else he would have been in the same cave with us!" Thorin shouted, angry.

She stomped her foot on the ground. "Why are you so desperate for Bilbo to be dead? You've shown him nothing but hatred ever since the beginning of this adventure!" she exclaimed.

"Why are you so desperate for him to be alive?" Thorin demanded. "Admit it, Thruda, the odds of him being alive are very low."

Her magic started escaping from her. She had never known it to do that before; the only time her magic had ever responded to her emotions was when she had given Thorin the small fire in the mountains to help keep him warm. But she was so angry that her magic destroyed all of her resistance. Fire flew out of Thruda's bow and hit Thorin in the chest.

Thruda dropped her bow in shock. What had she done? "Thorin!" she cried, rushing over to where he had fallen on the ground. "Thorin, please tell me you're okay, please, I didn't mean to do it, I just lost control!"

Gandalf had hurried over, too, and he was on the other side of an unconscious Thorin. "I do not know what you just did, Thruda, but this is not regular fire," he told Thruda. "I cannot heal these burns." Gandalf then looked up at her. "You seem to have a strong connection with the element of fire."

She ignored him and bent back down over Thorin. "I have no clue how I did this," she whispered. She looked up at Gandalf. "I'm a danger to everyone. I can't be a part of this quest any more. I'm going to end up hurting someone. I'm sorry, but I'm leaving."

Just as she was about to stand up and run away, Fili said something. "Hey, Gandalf, did you make another wizard's staff?" he asked.

Thruda turned around and saw that Fili was holding a black wizard's staff with multiple wizard runes. She strode over to him and took the staff. Looking it over, she had a feeling that it was familiar... and then she made the connection. Her bow, that had appeared after she had refused the wizard's staff, had been black with wizard runes.

"You!" Thruda snarled, turning to Gandalf. She pointed a finger at him. "You changed the staff into my bow! You know that wizards' powers are stronger if they're powered through staffs, and I had one and I didn't even know it! That's why my powers got out of control!"

Gandalf nodded, surprisingly calm. Most of the time, her anger would have scared the living daylights out of whoever she was yelling at; the dwarves around Gandalf and Thruda looked edgy and nervous. She had never been this angry at even Thorin.

"Yes, I made the staff a bow," Gandalf told her. "Thorin and I both realized that you need to use your magic to be able to fully defend yourself! You will never be a full wizard without a staff!"

Thruda glared and pointedly snapped the staff in half, right in front of his face. "I will _not_ learn how to be a wizard," she growled. "I never did before, and if this _accident_ did anything, it made me even more certain that I'm not going to learn how to control the wizard part of me." And she stormed away from Gandalf and the rest of the Company, ignoring their calls for her to come back, with only her sword and the clothes on her back. And her anger.

There was lots of anger.


	11. Chapter 10

Thruda walked back towards the goblin kingdom. She didn't know why, but she felt like she wanted to kill all the goblins in the Misty Mountains or die trying. Maybe she somehow related her burning Thorin to the goblins. She really didn't know. But she kept on walking.

Suddenly, she felt something run into her. She blinked and looked around, seeing nothing. What had she run into? Then, when she turned around again, she saw Bilbo there, panting and running after something gold that was rolling down the hill.

"Bilbo!" Thruda called happily, her anger forgotten; Bilbo always seemed to make her feel better, even if he did nothing. But he didn't pay attention; he was focused on the rolling gold thing. She realized that it was a ring. She reached out for the ring and stopped it with her foot. When it had stopped rolling, she picked it up and was going to give it to Bilbo, but she had a vision of sorts that seemed to be coming from the ring.

 _I was standing tall, above all others in the battlefield. Today, I would finally know what it was to have complete control of the whole of Middle Earth. Today, I would wipe out all who opposed me as they attempted to march on Mordor, my kingdom._

 _My black sword swung through the ranks of my enemies. It was made especially for my giant size. It was at least as tall as Men or Elves, possibly more. I felt joy as I chopped through my enemies. Every time I killed one, I pictured a string snapping and a balloon floating up into the air, away from the rest._

 _The One Ring was on my finger, as well. I felt triumph on my plan with the Rings. The Rings, my rings, my preciouses, were going to be how I would rule the world._

Thruda blinked and looked at the ring. She wondered what she had just seen. Maybe she had just dozed off for a second. When she squinted at the ring, she saw some fiery designs on what had looked like a plain, gold ring before, but she didn't know what they meant. Then, in the blink of an eye, the designs disappeared.

All that must have been her imagination. A trick of the light or something. She shook her head to clear it and handed it back to a waiting Bilbo. "Here," she said. "Did you have that ring on the trip all along?"

Bilbo nodded nervously, taking the ring and putting it in his pocket. She wondered why he didn't wear it. "Yeah, I was wearing it when I left the Shire, didn't you notice it?" he asked, his eyes shifty. Thruda could tell that he was lying but didn't push for the truth. "So, Thruda, what are you doing out here? Where's the rest of the Company?"

"The rest of the Company is back there," Thruda answered, pointing in the direction that she had just come from. "I'm leaving."

He looked shocked and crushed. "You're leaving? Why?"

Thruda's eyes narrowed at the thought of what happened. "You know the wizard's staff you dragged to me?" she said. He nodded. "When I didn't want it, Gandalf went behind my back and turned it into a bow so that I could have a bow yet have a way to channel my magic. I just channeled my magic accidentally, and I ended up burning Thorin with magical fire. Gandalf can't heal it, and neither can I."

Bilbo's eyes widened. "That's all Gandalf's fault, Thruda! Don't blame yourself!" he exclaimed. "You shouldn't take off, for Thorin and my sakes."

"What does it matter to you or Thorin whether or not I stay?" Thruda demanded. "Thorin will probably hate me now, anyway!"

He shook his head vigorously. "Thorin loves you, Thruda," he reminded her. "It won't matter to him whether or not you hurt him. And it would make him feel better if you were there during his healing process. As for me, well..." The hobbit let out a deep sigh. "I just wouldn't be able to stand not having anyone to talk to for the rest of the journey."

Bilbo looked so sad as he said the last sentence that Thruda just had to laugh. He looked up, surprised and hopeful. "Ok, then, I'll stay," she said. "But only for you."

They headed to where the Company had been last. Thruda crouched down, looking at the tracks. "They went into the forest," she told Bilbo, pointing.

"Gandalf or someone else took the staff," Bilbo said. "It's not here."

Thruda growled and looked around. There were no signs of the staff. "Gandalf," she muttered angrily. "When I see him next, he's going to wish that he had never been born." Bilbo chuckled nervously, fingering the ring in his pocket. "Let's go," she said. They walked in silence, Thruda occasionally stopping to check the tracks.

In a few minutes, she heard the Company. A lot of them were shouting at once, and the only voice she couldn't pick out was Thorin's. Thruda frowned. Was he still unconscious?

After a lot of concentration, she could make out what they were arguing about. Apparently all of the dwarves were yelling at Gandalf for changing the staff into her bow and getting her so angry that she left. Thruda smirked. Now Gandalf could see who the dwarves were loyal to. Occasionally, when they weren't chewing out Gandalf, Thruda heard Fili and Kili (or both) trying to collect bets on whether or not Bilbo and she would come back, or if they had left for good, or if they were dead.

"Hey! We're here!" Thruda shouted, stepping out of the trees. Bilbo stepped out after her, grinning nervously. The dwarves let out a cheer. She smiled as Bilbo and she were surrounded by dwarves hugging them. The only person hanging back was Gandalf (Thorin didn't count because he was unconscious), who she could see was holding two wizard's staffs. He must have fixed the one that Thruda had snapped.

Fili and Kili started taking the money from the people who had lost and giving money to the people who won. Four fat money sacks eventually emerged, two medium-sized ones, and one small one. One of the fat sacks was given to Gandalf (Thruda's blood boiled; how dare he bet on her when he had just caused her to burn Thorin?), one was pocketed by each of the twins (she smiled at that), and one was slipped into Thorin's unconscious hand. Thruda frowned, wondering how Thorin had bet if he was unconcious. "We knew what he would bet on," Fili told her warmly over the noise of the other dwarves shouting about how happy they were that Thruda and Bilbo had come back. Thruda grinned at Fili and nodded.

The smallest sack was given to her. She gave Kili (the deliverer) a questioning look. "That's for you and Bilbo to split," Kili answered. "We put some aside for you two." She nodded her thanks, not even bothering to try to talk over the noise. "Gandalf, Uncle Thorin, and the two of us (alright, technically we bet for Uncle Thorin) said that both of you would come back. Balin said that you would come back, but Bilbo was dead, and Gloin said that you wouldn't come back but Bilbo would," Fili explained. "Everyone else said both of you weren't coming back."

"Thanks!" Thruda exclaimed, giving him a hug before he went off to give the rest of the dwarves their money. She wondered if she was the only one that Thorin had shown his true self to. She was aware that that was what he had told her, but she wondered if he showed Fili and Kili without knowing it. If not, how would they know what Thorin would have put his money on both of them to come back?

They were still celebrating when Gandalf banged his staff on the ground, sending out a massive vibration through the ground. Pinecones fell from trees as they looked towards him. "Ow!" Bilbo exclaimed when one landed on his head.

"I must remind you that we aren't safe yet!" Gandalf exclaimed. "We should keep travelling away from here and get as far away as we can."

For a group that had just been taken captive by goblins, they were a cheery group as we walked. They joked, they sang, they talked... The only dampener was that Thorin was slung over Gandalf's shoulder (they had nominated him because he was the tallest).

Eventually, Balin raised the concern that the now had no ponies or food. As Thruda was the leader, she was technically supposed to decide that stuff, but she just wasn't in the mood. She was relieved that they had gotten out but mad at herself and Gandalf for what happened to Thorin. Then she was also confused about what she felt about Thorin. With that many thoughts chasing themselves around in her head, she couldn't concentrate on anything serious.

The sun had long gone down and the moon was up when they stumbled into a moonlit clearing. Thruda wondered if they were going to stop any time soon; Gandalf had been pushing them on when most of them would have gladly stopped hours ago.

Suddenly, they heard a long, drawn out, howl nearby. Thruda's head snapped up, and her eyes widened. She knew what that howl meant.

"Wargs," she said.

"And that means..." Gandalf continued.

"Goblins," they finished together.

At the word "goblins," the Company erupted into panic, running back and forth and screaming. She tried to get their attention, but nobody was listening. "OI!" Thruda finally shouted. They silenced and looked at her. She took a deep breath, stepping into the position that she didn't really want. She had been putting it off and let Gandalf lead, but right now, what the dwarves needed was an order from one of their own kind. "Ok, since Thorin is unconscious now, that means that I'm the leader. And right now, I say to GET IN THE TREES AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"

The chaos was back as everyone scrambled upwards, climbing the trees as fast as they could. Gandalf still had Thorin. The problem was that dwarves weren't good at climbing trees. Tree-climbing was more of an Elf thing. Dwarves didn't normally climb trees, so most of them were only a quarter way up their trees. Thruda was able to get the highest, probably because she wasn't totally dwarf.

"Bilbo!" she shouted, seeing that he hadn't managed to get up yet. He was attempting to climb her tree, but the branches were too high up for him to grab, and he wasn't strong enough to climb up by straddling the tree. When she glanced to the edge of the clearing, she could see the eyes of the Wargs glowing in the darkness.

She didn't even think. She started swinging down from the branches of her tree to get to him and yank him up. Soon she was close enough to the ground to extend by hand. When she glanced at the Wargs, she saw that they were now heading into the clearing. "Take my hand, Bilbo!" she ordered, thrusting her hand down. As if sensing fresh meat, the Wargs headed slowly towards their tree. "Hurry, Bilbo!" He reached up and grabbed her hand. He was heavier than she thought. The only way for her to get him up was to swing him.

Even though she knew that she would end up on the ground, she did it anyway. Bilbo went into the air, landing on the branch that she had been on. She landed on the ground and drew her sword, slicing at the Wargs. "Go!" Thruda called to Bilbo. "Climb up!"

Once she was sure that he was high enough, Thruda jumped up, grabbing the branch with her hands. She was about to swing her legs up when a Warg jumped, sinking its teeth into her leg. Because of the adrenaline running through her veins, Thruda barely felt it. She was about to slice its head off when an arrow flew into it, causing it to fall off of her leg. She turned to see Kili with his bow out. She nodded her thanks and climbed up again, next to Bilbo, who had managed to make it halfway up before he got tired.

She looked at her leg and tried to assess the damage to it. It was definitely healable, but she was loosing a lot of blood. In fact, she was starting to feel dizzy.

"Gandalf, I'm going to hate you forever!" Thruda shouted, holding out her hand. Gandalf, knowing what she meant, smirked and tossed her the wizard staff that he had found in the troll cave. Thruda caught it with her outstretched hand and felt power flow through her. She pointed the staff at her wounds and focused on them, where they instantly healed. Her magic with the staff was more powerful than it had been without it.

 _Well, I already used magic, so what's the harm in using it again?_ she thought, thinking about how she could help the Company by using magic to take care of the Wargs. She looked at the staff, not knowing what, exactly to do with it. Some things were simple enough to do, like healing. That was just a matter of focus. Fire came naturally to her; She didn't have to think twice before she could control it. But for some strange reason, she felt like some magic was different. She couldn't do everything by focus.

"How do I use this thing?" Thruda demanded, shaking the staff. Sparks flew out of the end, almost causing her to almost drop it in surprise. Gandalf laughed at that, and she felt anger boil under her skin. Why were wizards so annoying? No wonder why she didn't like them.

The Wargs spaced out, making sure that every tree was guarded. More Wargs came, and they all started growling and barking at each other. Thruda was able to guess that they were talking. She looked at the staff and wondered if she could turn it back into a bow. Closing her eyes, she focused on the staff and pictured its sleek form turning into the bow that it had been before. When she opened my eyes, she could see that it was now a bow. The magically refillable quiver was also strapped around her.

Thruda was about to shoot a Warg when Gandalf teleported over to her tree to stop her. "Don't," he muttered. "I want to see this." He watched the Wargs as if he could understand their language. Instead of the glazed look you get when you're listening to people talk in a different language (like the one on Thruda's face as she watched the Wargs), he had a focused look. His head turned from Warg to Warg as they were speaking.

"You can understand them, can't you?" she asked. He nodded. "Well, what are they saying?"

"They're supposed to be meeting the goblins here," Gandalf answered. Honestly, it shocked her that she had gotten an answer. "I suppose our escape delayed the goblins, as we did take out a lot of them."

Bilbo squeaked. "Goblins?" he asked. "What have you been up to?" He was ignored.

Suddenly, a branch snapped on the tree that Gandalf had been on. "Ah!" a voice shouted. They turned to see Thorin awake. He had almost fallen out of the tree. "Where are we?"

Thruda almost laughed but stopped when she saw the Wargs looking up and growling. "Thorin, be careful not to fall out of the tree," she said. "We're trapped in the trees by Wargs." He gave her a look clearly saying that he had figured that out himself. Then he winced and looked down at his chest. Thruda looked away, feeling guilty, before he could say anything about it.

"I have heard enough," Gandalf announced. He picked up a pinecone and set it on fire. Thruda smirked, realizing what he was going to do. _This_ was something that she would use magic for. She picked up another pinecone and set it on fire, as well.

The other dwarves had realized what they were trying to do. They each picked their own pinecone, and Gandalf and Thruda passed along their flames so that everybody had a flaming pinecone. Thorin jumped over to Gandalf and Thruda's tree so that he could be in the middle of the action, and he picked one of the branches close to Thruda to land on.

"Kili, Thruda, your bows!" Thorin ordered. Thruda swung her bow into position, and so did Kili. When they shot the arrows, Thruda set the tips on fire. Soon the Wargs were rolling around on the ground, trying to put out the flames. It looked particularly comical when a pinecone hit the biggest Warg (they assumed that this one was the leader) on the nose, and he started jumping up and down and howling particularly loudly. Then he started running around crazily, biting and snapping at anything that was close to him. Thruda started laughing along with Fili and Kili, shouting spirited taunts at the Wargs. Thorin almost fell out of the tree because of how hard he was laughing at Thruda's suggestion about where she should aim her next pinecone.

Gandalf had done something to his pinecones so that when they landed on the ground, they went off in colored sparks and smoke. Thruda's were just regular fire, but when it landed on a Warg, it burned worse than regular fire and wouldn't be put out, no matter how much they rolled on the ground. The dwarves tended to prefer Thruda's, but Gandalf's gave the most amusement, seeing how much the Wargs jumped when they landed. Eventually, the ones caught on fire were chased out of the clearing by their fellow Wargs, causing the clearing to be nearly deserted.  
Maybe they would actually get out of this alive.


	12. Chapter 11

They were beginning to have fun with their little game, thinking that they might be able to slip away. But then they heard pounding and footsteps from the direction they had come from. Thruda was so distracted that she almost fell out of the tree, but there was a strong hand on her shoulders that stopped her from falling and guided her back into a sitting position. Thruda turned to see Thorin. "Saved you," he joked quietly. Thruda almost laughed before remembering what she had done to him. "Thruda, why do you look so guilty?" he asked. Then she realized that he didn't know. He didn't know that she had burnt him. He had just woken up in a tree with a giant, incurable burn on his chest. He didn't know that she had done it.

"We were arguing about Bilbo," Thruda said quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear her. "I burned you by accident, and you got knocked out."

Thorin looked confused. "You can't make fire out of midair without a wizard's staff," he told her, then his expression froze. "Oh. The bow."

Thruda nodded. "The bow," she agreed, raising it from where it sat in her hand.

"Don't blame Gandalf, Thruda," he said. "I told him to do it and blame it all on me if he wanted. He wouldn't have done it if I hadn't pressured him."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you get it?" she demanded, slightly louder. "I'm a danger to everyone around me. That's why I wanted to leave. But Bilbo convinced me to stay." Thorin was about to reach out for her, but Thruda climbed higher, as high as she could get. "Stay away from me, Thorin."

He was about to say something, or follow her up, when the goblins came running and shouting into the clearing. They had apparently thought that there was a battle. But when they saw how the dwarves were actually stuck in the trees, they laughed loudly. Some of them even fell to the ground. Thruda frowned and shot a few. That got them angry.

A few of them barked some words in the goblin-tongue. A few goblins and Wargs left the group. Thruda didn't understand it, but Gandalf paled, realizing what they were planning. "This isn't good," he said plainly. "This. Is. Not. Good."

"What?" Thruda asked. He ignored her. "Gandalf! What's going on?"

In a few seconds Thruda got her answer. The goblins and Wargs came back, this time carrying armfuls of wood. They started putting them around the trees. "Oh," she said, suddenly understanding that they were going to light a giant fire by the feet of their trees. "Crap. Shit. We're screwed."

The dwarves hadn't caught on yet and were annoyed at Gandalf and Thruda. But even if they told the dwarves, it wouldn't help. They wouldn't be able to get out.

Then Bilbo got it. "Oh dear," he whimpered. It looked like the poor guy would pass out.

"What's happening?" Thorin demanded angrily. Then he saw that the goblins were gathering burning Wargs and started cursing in Dwarvish. They didn't want to try to understand him.

Soon, they had made a circle of wood, and the burning Wargs had set it on fire. The Company was stuck.

The goblins began to sing. " _Sixteen birds in six fir-trees, their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze! what funny little birds, they had no wings! Oh what shall we do with the funny little things? Roast 'em alive, or stew them in a pot; fry them, boil them, and eat them hot?_

 _"Burn, burn tree and fern! Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch to light the night for our delight, ya hey!_

 _"Bake and toast 'em, fry and roast 'em! till beards blaze, and eyes glaze; till hair smells and skinds crack, fat melts, and bones black in cinders lie beneath the sky! So dwarves shall die, and light the night for our delight! Ya hey! Ya-harri-hey! Ya hoy!"_

Thruda rolled her eyes. "Shut your traps, you tiny, insolent little _gits,_ and shove your birds down your-" Gandalf cut her off with a stern look. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Orcs arrive and join forces with the goblins. One with a chopped off right arm that was riding a white Warg was glaring at Thorin. Thruda shivered; what they hell was his problem?

By now, the fire by the foot of Thruda, Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo's tree. It caught, and soon their whole tree was ablaze. The others climbed higher so that they were by Thruda, but there was only so high they could go until they couldn't go higher and the flames reached them. Her heart was pounding in fear, but no magic came.

She wondered why and realized that it was really ironic how the first time she wanted magic, she didn't have any.

Gandalf and Thorin were about to jump from the tree to the ground and to take out as many goblins as they could before they died. Thruda looked back and forth between them and Bilbo, torn. If she jumped with Gandalf and Thorin, then she would leave Bilbo and his tree defenseless. If she stayed with Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin would have a smaller chance of surviving.

They leaped to the ground, but something caught Gandalf before he could get far from his jumping point. It looked like a giant black shadow, and for a second Thruda thought that that had been the end of Gandalf the Grey. But then she squinted her eyes, and she saw that it was a giant Eagle and that it was bringing Gandalf away from the danger, not to death.

But one had tried to get Thorin and had missed. Thorin had seen the Eagles the second before he jumped. He was so started that he had fallen out of the tree instead of jumping. The Eagle that had been supposed to be catching him had missed because he hadn't expected Thorin to fall instead of jump, and Thorin had landed on the ground, surrounded by goblins.

"Thorin!" Thruda screamed over the noises of the fire, goblins, Orcs, Wargs, Eagles, and fellow dwarves. "Thorin!" He didn't hear her as he started killing as many goblins as he could, slashing out with Orcrist.

She saw other Eagles coming to pick them up and to help kill the goblins and Wargs. "Here!" Thruda shouted to the nearest one, tossing Bilbo up out of the tree. He let out a high-pitched scream as he fell, but soon he was caught by the Eagle. His scream didn't stop, even as he was grabbed by the Eagle.

Now that Bilbo was safe, Thruda was able to help Thorin. She jumped to the ground, and thankfully no Eagles noticed her, so they didn't catch her. She landed gracefully next to Thorin. He turned around and was surprised to see her there. "What are you doing?" he demanded, letting a goblin get to close. Thruda blocked the goblin' s axe and pushed the goblin away.

"Making sure you don't die!" she told him, striking down some more goblins. "Besides, we have a goblin-killing competition to finish!"

They took out a few more goblins, Orcs, and Wargs, saving each other when the other was in danger, and throwing friendly insults at each other. Thruda, despite being in a life-threatening situation, was actually having a fun time.

It all changed when the Orc on the white Warg stepped forward, eyes clearly set on Thorin. He lifted a bow and shot at Thorin when his back was to the Orc, but Thruda knocked it to the side with her sword. That brought the Orc's attention to her, and he let out a growl. The goblins and Orcs drew back and stood behind the Orc.

"No," Thorin whispered, finally noticing the Orc. "It can't be."

Thruda looked from Thorin to the Orc. "Oi, who are you?" she shouted to the Orc. Thorin groaned at her complete frankness with the enemy. She was always bold like that; one day her big mouth would get her in big trouble.

The Orc laughed. "Are you telling me that you do not know who I am?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously, or else I wouldn't be asking," she answered. "I guess you're not important enough for me to really know. Sorry about that, Mr. Whatever- Your- Name- Is."

His eyes narrowed, and Thorin let out another groan. Thorin realized that Thruda had stormed off before Balin had told the story of Azog and the failed attempt to recapture the Mines of Moria, so she didn't know who the Pale Orc was.

"That was-" he started, but the Orc finished for him.

"Azog the Defiler!" the Orc announced proudly, obviously expecting her to cower in fear or start screaming.

Instead, she stared at him blankly. "Uh, who the Filer?" she asked. "And why are you called 'the Filer'? Like, what do you do, file papers every day?"

Thorin muttered, "It's Azog the Defiler."

She nodded. "Oh! Azog the Defiler!" she exclaimed, as if that explained everything. But then she frowned. "Sorry, what did you do to get the title of Defiler? See, I'm not good with this stuff..."

Azog looked murderous, and Thorin had to admire her skill of getting people annoyed.

"Step aside and give me the Dwarf King!" Azog ordered. "And I will possibly spare your life!"

Thruda pretended to consider. "You know what? I just might..." She paused and glanced at Thorin's horrified expression and continued, grinning. "I just might shove my sword up your Orcish arse!"

Thorin smiled slightly, but Azog looked even angrier when she had asked him who he was. "Kill the girl!" he ordered, and the goblins moved forward. "The King is mine."

Before she could make sure Thorin was safe, the goblins and Orcs swarmed around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Thorin wielding his sword and an oaken branch against Azog, but she couldn't watch. She needed to focus on her own fight.

But Thorin couldn't hold his own. After a few minutes, she saw him fall and be picked up in the jaws of the Warg that Azog rode on. "Thorin!" she shouted, struggling to fight her way through the goblins around her. Suddenly, a small figure with a glowing blue blade plowed into Azog and stood in front of Thorin, sword held out awkwardly.

"Bilbo!" she cried out joyfully, but those moments of her lack of concentration had allowed the goblins and Orcs to get closer to her. She started fighting again, but Azog held up his hand to stop them. He said some words in the Black Speech, and the soldiers backed away from her.

"Go join your little pet," Azog growled. "I will show you how easily I can kill all three of you. Then you will remember the name of Azog the Defiler, the Pale Orc."

Thruda laughed loudly at him, despite the fear gnawing at her stomach. Was Thorin okay? "I doubt I'll remember your name if I'm dead," she told him seriously, her eyes wide with honesty.

Azog growled and started towards her, but Bilbo jumped between them, waving his sword around in the air. "Hey! I'm over here!" Bilbo shouted. Unfortunately, Orcs were more intelligent than trolls, and Azog didn't even blink.

"Lazgar, fight her," Azog ordered in the Black Speech. Thruda wondered why she could understand him, but didn't have a chance to ask why. A female Orc stepped out from behind Azog and walked up towards Thruda, smirking. Thruda's jaw dropped; she had never seen a female Orc. "I will take care of this one," Azog continued, looking back at Bilbo.

The female Orc drew her sword and lunged towards Thruda. Thruda blocked Lazgar's sword with her own and attempted to disarm the Orc. However, Lazgar's taller form prevented Thruda from getting the leverage she needed, so Thruda's plan failed her as her own sword went flying out of her hand. Thruda waved her hand in the direction of her sword, opening her mental cabinet in front of it. It flew into the cabinet, and Thruda closed it.

Lazgar, seeing that her opponent was disarmed, took advantage of the fact and lunged forwards again. However, Thruda was prepared. She swung her bow in front of her and turned it into a shield, causing Lazgar's sword to bang against it. Since it was magical, the Orc warrior's sword broke against it.

Thruda then thrust her hand into Storage, taking out her sword and slicing Lazgar's head off.

It rolled to a stop at the feet of Azog, who had been mocking Bilbo instead of actually fighting him. When Bilbo saw it, he almost fainted. Azog, however, dropped his sword at the sight of Lazgar's head. "Lazgar..." he whispered, his voice filled with raw emotion. It had been no secret to the other Orcs that Azog and Lazgar had been in love, but to everyone else (Thruda, Bilbo, and the goblins), they were shocked.

"Kill him, you idiot!" Thruda shouted to Bilbo. The hobbit gathered his wits and raised his sword, about to slice the Orc's head off. But then, just like he had with Gollum, he hesitated. Azog was in such pain... Bilbo had always pictured him as heartless after hearing Balin's story, but Azog wasn't like that now.

Suddenly, an Eagle swooped down and picked Bilbo up by the shoulders and flew off. Another picked up Thruda and Thorin.

Thruda leaned forward and placed her hands on Thorin's heart. She had no clue what she was doing, but she focused as hard as she could to bringing him back. She felt magic flow from her hands into Thorin, who absorbed it. After a few seconds, he woke with a gasp, his eyes wide. Thruda instantly moved to another part of the Eagle not wanting to be close to Thorin just in case she hurt him again.

The second they landed in the Eagle's land, Thruda drew Bilbo into a hug, then quickly let go, remembering that she could be dangerous and possibly kill him by accident. Thorin put his hands on her shoulders and looked her up and down, making sure that she didn't have any injuries. She stepped away from him, too, seeing the burn on his chest. "I'm dangerous," she reminded them. "Don't come near me. I could hurt you." Thorin was about to protest, but Thruda cut him off. "Don't you dare say that I wouldn't hurt anybody, Thorin, because I hurt you by accident because we were arguing."

"Exactly," Thorin said. "It was an accident. Accidents happen." He stepped forward slowly, and she was about to let him get closer when he winced; his shirt had moved and scratched his burn. Thruda stepped backwards, trying to get away from him before she could hurt him even more. Guilt flooded through her. Thorin turned to thank Bilbo for bringing the Eagles back for them. Thruda's jaw dropped as the two hugged.

Then the other dwarves and their Eagles came into the room, and she looked around at her surroundings for the first time. She saw that they were in a giant palace that was made for the Eagles. However, nobody besides the Company and the Eagles that had brought them here were in the room. Then she saw Gandalf talking to an Eagle that looked more majestic than the rest of them. It held its head high and proud. It reminded Thruda a little bit of Thorin.

She walked up to him and bowed. "Thank you for rescuing us, Lord Eagle," Thruda said. "I am Thruda of Erebor."

"Yes, I am aware of that. Gandalf was just telling me about you," he replied. "Half dwarf and half wizard. Very interesting pairing, very interesting... There aren't many hybrids on Middle Earth. You are very rare, Thruda." Then he turned to talk to Gandalf about her parents, and Thruda slipped away.

The dwarves were gathered around a window. Thruda went up to them and looked outside. They were on top of a tall mountain. She could see fire coming from a part of the surrounding forest, and she assumed that that must be where the goblins, Orcs, and Wargs were. They had caused quite a commotion.

Then she looked to the east, and Thruda saw what they were looking at. "The Lonely Mountain," she whispered. Then she grinned. "This is great, guys! We're almost there!"

"Yes," Bilbo said with a wistful smile. "I do believe that the worst is behind us."


	13. Chapter 12

The Eagles flew the Company as close to civilization as they dared; they were afraid that the humans would think that they were stealing their cows. When they landed, Gandalf said good-bye to the Eagles in the Eagle fashion, and they left.

"Where are we?" Thorin asked Gandalf as soon as the Eagles were no longer visible.

"Near the Carrock," Gandalf answered. "We can rest near here."

"Where's the Carrock?" Thruda demanded. The name was familiar to her, for some reason... She could have sworn that she heard it before.

"Never mind that, _what's_ the Carrock?" Thorin said.

"Yeah, and where can we rest?"

"Is it safe?"

"How close are we to the Mountain?"

After being bombarded by similar questions for another few minutes, Gandalf was visibly pissed. "BE QUIET!" he roared, and they all shut up. "The Carrock is a great rock in which Somebody lives near. We will rest with that Somebody, and once I am sure that you are safe on you way, I will leave you." They started protesting, but Gandalf cut them off again. "I leave you in good hands," he told them, looking at where Bilbo and Thruda stood together. Thruda wondered which one of them he was looking at as they set off to the Carrock.

When the day was coming to a close, everyone else besides Thruda and Bilbo began to question Gandalf again about their host. Thruda already had some inkling to who their host was when she had smelt honey and heard bees, but she wasn't sure and didn't want to ask Gandalf. If she was right, then their host was truly not someone who they wanted to cross. What also didn't help was that she had stayed with him for a month after the fall of the Mountain, and he treated her like a daughter. She didn't want to be pampered by anybody, especially in front of the other dwarves.

Gandalf had been telling everyone about their host, and she started listening when Gandalf started yelling at Bilbo. "My goodness, Mr. Baggins, no, no, NO, NO!" he shouted. "I have no clue what you hear at the Shire, but _furriers_ do not have anything to do with rabbits! I am talking about a skin changer."

"A skin changer?" all the dwarves demanded.

Thorin's eyes narrowed. "You said nothing about a skin changer," he said.

"Oh, don't worry," Thruda told him, her suspicions confirmed. "Beorn's a nice guy once you get to know him. Just don't get him angry, and you'll be fine."

Gandalf looked at her. "You know Beorn?" he asked. She nodded. "That should help us."

"What does he turn into?" Thorin demanded, totally ignoring the conversation between Gandalf and Thruda.

"A bear," they answered together.

Thorin's mouth dropped open. "A bear?" he repeated.

Thruda couldn't resist. "No, a roach, so he can scare the living daylights out of people by falling on their heads," she told him sarcastically. The group chuckled, Fili and Kili roaring with laughter.

"Ahhh!" Bilbo shouted, smacking at his head. They turned to see him trying to pluck something off of his head. "Get it off! It's a roach!"

She started cracking up when she saw that a leaf had fallen from a tree onto Bilbo's head. She picked it off and dropped it, letting it fly away with the wind. "Seriously, Bilbo, I was just joking about the roach thing," she said, ginning from ear to ear. He looked sheepish.

Soon they could hear the buzzing of a lot of bees, and she knew they were getting close. In a few minutes, ponies came out to greet them. They looked at them and then turned away, back towards the house, probably to tell Beorn about a group of dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit. They were in Beorn's land.

"When we approach the house, I want to do it in pairs. Bilbo and I shall go first, then another pair every time I whistle. Is that clear?" Gandalf said. They nodded, and Thruda knew that that was a good plan. Beorn generally didn't like more than one or two guests, but sixteen... she gulped.

Gandalf was about to leave with Bilbo when he turned around. "Oh, and Thruda?" he asked. "I want you and Thorin to come in next." He turned around and left.

Thruda walked over to Thorin, aggravated. "I swear, Gandalf should be in the matchmaking business," she grumbled. "He's always trying to get us together."

Thorin stared after Gandalf and Bilbo. "It's probably because you know Beorn," he told her. "He wants Beorn to approve of me since I'm the leader of the Company, and it'll help if it seems like we're on good terms." He shot a look at Thruda. "Are we on good terms?" She shrugged and was about to reply when a whistle pierced the air. They shared a look and walked forward.

When they arrived at the source of the whistle, and Thruda saw that Beorn, Gandalf, and Bilbo were sitting in front of Beorn's house. Bilbo looked awkward, Gandalf looked sure of himself, and Beorn looked interested. "Ah, there they are!" Gandalf exclaimed. Beorn looked at them, and his face split into a big grin when he saw Thruda.

"Thruda!" he shouted, standing up and giving her a bear hug (literally). "It's been too long!"

She gasped for breath. "Yeah," she agreed. "Can't... breathe!"

Beorn placed her down. "Sorry," he apologized. "Who's your husband?" Thruda blanched, and Thorin turned red.

"Thorin Oakenshield at your service," Thorin said, bowing. "We're just friends, Mr. Beorn."

Beorn grinned. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "It did not seem like it." He turned to Gandalf, giving Thruda the impression that Beorn hadn't messed up on purpose. "Very well," he told the wizard. "They can stay. Now, please finish your story."

Thruda listened as Gandalf gradually brought a few more people into the story every few minutes, introducing two dwarves at a time and never overwhelming Beorn. Even though Thruda hated to admit it, Gandalf was good

When there were maybe three quarters of the dwarves sitting around Gandalf and Beorn, Beorn started getting aggravated. Thruda shifted in her seat, an action that caused Thorin's eyebrows to raise every time she did it. When he looked at her, she leaned away from him, until they were on two opposite ends of the couch.

"Then they started singing," Gandalf was telling Beorn. "Six _teen birds in six fir trees_..."

Beorn raised his eyebrows. "Sixteen?" he demanded. "If there are any more of your friends, Gandalf, just bring them out!" Gandalf nodded and whistled. Bofur and Bombur came out of the trees, Bombur panting. "Well, then, I think that that's all of your friends, Gandalf, for I know that goblins can count. I'm assuming that you escaped the goblins safely, as you are all here."

Gandalf continued with the rest of the tale, telling about how the Eagles had saved us and how Thorin and Thruda had been the last off, distracting the Wargs and goblins until everyone else had left the clearing.

"That's my girl, Thruda!" Beorn exclaimed. "Always knew that you were a fighter!" She grinned at Beorn. Then Beorn noticed the wide spot between Thorin and Thruda. "Well, well, it looks like both of you enjoy the edges of the sofa! That's not a problem!" He picked up a terrified Bombur by the armpits and placed him between Thorin and Thruda. She was instantly squished against the edge, and Thorin almost fell off of the couch. Bombur looked happy, though. He was probably the only one who was. "All of you shall stay here for a few days!" Beorn announced. "I haven't heard such a story for years, and even if it was made up, you deserve food and housing for making up such a grand story!

Thorin opened his mouth to object (he probably wanted to leave tomorrow to get to the Mountain), but Thruda reached around Bombur and tugged on his hair. Hard. He shut up but sent her a glare.

"You need to learn how to use your magic," Thorin told Thruda when she stepped out of her room in the morning the next day. She hadn't even reached the dining room. "It'll increase your chances of survival.

Thruda pushed past him. "That's rich, coming from the person who would have died yesterday if it weren't for Bilbo and I," she said. "And I refuse to use my magic." Her mind flickered to her battle with Lazgar, where she had used magic to get her sword back and to disarm the Orc. She had used magic then. Doubt began to grow; was not using magic the right thing to do?

Thorin walked behind her. "Then at least let me teach you hand to hand combat, just in case you loose your weapon," he replied. "You don't have any good reason not to do that, right?"

"Did someone say hand to hand combat?" Fili asked, overhearing them as he and Kili walked out of the dining room and nearly ran into them.

"I want to see if I can beat Thruda in a real fight, not the skirmishes we've been having," Kili added, looking hopeful. "

"Yeah, me too!" Fili exclaimed.

Thruda started cursing Thorin under her breath. "Fine!" she snapped. "Fine! We'll start later today."

The twins turned around and reentered the dining room with Thorin and Thruda. She noticed that Beorn was gone. However, before she was able to remark on his absence, he burst through the doors.

"You tell the truth," he said, sounding surprised. "I have been to the clearing that you described."

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Beorn, did you think that we were liars?" she teased. "You know me."

"Exactly," Beorn replied. "Which is part of the reason why I didn't trust you."

Fili and Kili roared with laughter, causing Thruda to send them glares. Beorn started telling them about his travels to the clearing, and she spent most of the time staring at Thorin, who she had allowed to sit next to her for the first time during this adventure.

"Later today" she was pacing in her room, not sure if she was going to cancel on Thorin or not. Before she could decide, she heard a knock on her door, and she threw it open. Thorin was standing there, waiting to collect her for the lesson. Thruda walked past him angrily without even acknowledging his presence. She heard him close the door to her room and fall into step with her. "We're going outside," Thorin told her. "Follow me; I found a nice clearing. I even asked Beorn if we could use it."

She didn't answer but kept on walking, eventually slowing to let Thorin take the lead so that he didn't have to tell her where to go. A few minutes later, they were maybe an quarter of a mile from the house and in a clearing with short but lush grass. The tall trees surrounding it blocked some of the sun so that it wasn't too sunny in there but enough so that the light highlighted every little flower and leaf.

"So what are we doing?" Thruda asked, stopping in the middle of the clearing. She turned around to face Thorin and saw him standing right behind her. "Bloody hell!" she shouted loudly. "Don't scare me like that!"

He laughed, a more carefree sound that she had heard from him for a while. Her eyes instantly softened, remembering how his shield of pride had broken before her outside the goblin kingdom. Thorin was a more complicated guy than she had thought.

"I'm going to teach you how to get under people's guards," he told her, drawing his sword. Her hand instantly went to her own, but he shook his head. "You're not going to be using a sword, remember? Let's say you've lost it somewhere. Actually, take it off and put it somewhere safe." She unclipped her sword and leaned it on a nearby tree, muttering unhappily the whole time. If something attacked them in this forest and she was unarmed, Thruda was blaming Thorin.

When she walked back to Thorin, he launched into this long lecture about how screwed she would be if she lost her weapon and didn't know the stuff he was going to be teaching her. She didn't pay attention to most of it. Then he started demonstrating some stuff, moving with such grace but with power behind all of his moves that she was awestruck. She had never really thought of Thorin as majestic because most of the time, he was an ass. But now that she was (possibly) on her way to considering forgiving him, she couldn't help but stare at his movements.

"I'm going to start you out with a simple punch," Thorin said when he had stopped whatever he had been doing (he had probably mentioned it before but she wasn't listening). "Now, you have to be really careful how you hold yourself, or else you could break your wrist or your arm." He stepped closer to her so that he was right behind her. She could feel his warm body behind her as he took her hand and formed a fist. "Never hold your fist any way besides this one unless I'm teaching you another punch," he whispered, his mouth right by her ear. She shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the cold and nodded, keeping the fist's shape in her head. Thorin moved his hand away from hers and stepped back in front of her, holding out his palm like he wanted a high-five. "Punch it," he ordered. "And when you do, remember to always keep your elbow bent and pointing towards the ground."

She looked at him like he was nuts (he was). "You want me to punch your palm?" she demanded incredulously. "Do you know how much that could possibly hurt?"

"Honestly, I doubt that. People are always tentative to hit the first time they hit someone," Thorin answered. "C'mon, punch me." She took a deep breath and punched lightly, causing him to roll his eyes. "Harder," he said. She shot him an _are you sure_? look. He nodded and made a gesture signaling that she should punch. She pulled her fist back, aiming at the center of his palm, and punched as hard as she could.

Thorin stumbled back, taken aback by the force of her punch. "Are you sure you never did this before?" he asked, slightly breathless.

"Never," she answered. She stepped away, feeling guilty. Then she remembered that the burn that she had inflicted still hadn't healed, and she fought the urge to run away, far from anything living so that she didn't harm them. "You see? I can't even control myself. I'm going to end up hurting someone, maybe even killing them!"

Thruda kept backing away until her back hit a tree. It was the same one that she had laid her sword on. She picked it up and clipped it back to her belt. "Thruda," Thorin said. "It's fine. You didn't hurt me." Even as he said it, she saw him trying hard not to move his right hand, the one that she had hit. It must have hurt pretty badly.

"Yeah, I did, Thorin!" Thruda exclaimed. "I can't do this any more... I can't. The longer I stay with you and everyone else, the more chances I have to hurt somebody!"

Then she turned and ran, feeling silent tears running from her eyes. She heard Thorin running after her, but she tried to use the forest and her lighter frame to loose him. "Thruda!" he shouted. "Thruda, come back!" She ignored him and saw a tall tree nearby. She hurried to it and started climbing as quickly as she could. Knowing Thorin, he wouldn't want to climb up.

Sure enough, he stopped when he caught up to her and saw her halfway up a tree. "Thruda, please come down," he said. "You're not dangerous. You're not going to hurt anybody. You burnt me earlier because you didn't know that you had the staff with you. Now that you do, you'll be more careful. And it's a good thing that you punched me hard and didn't break any bones. Anyway, my hand doesn't even hurt. You're overreacting, Thruda. Please come down."

"I don't even know what I'm capable of, Thorin! And until I do, I don't want to go near anybody," Thruda called down to him.

Thorin groaned. "And Gandalf said I was stubborn!" he exclaimed. "Nobody cares if you could possibly hurt them! We're all a family, and we're all concerned about you!"

Thruda was about to retort when a bird landed on the same branch as her. She flinched, and the slight motion caused the skinny branch to snap. Honestly, she was surprised that she had stayed up there for that long. She let out a scream as she fell from the tall tree, feeling the wind push against her and seeing the ground get closer and closer. Suddenly, when it seemed like she was going to collide with the ground, she hit something soft that stopped her fall. However, whatever she had fallen on stumbled and fell to the ground, her landing on top of it.

"Dammit, Thruda," Thorin muttered from underneath her. Her face instantly turned red. "Did you have to fall on me?"

"Not my fault," she replied, peeling herself off of him and holding out a hand to help him off the ground. He ignored her hand and stood up gracefully.

He looked into her eyes. "Well, now that you're down here, we can talk about you and how you think you're going to end up killing everyone," he said.

She looked away. "It'd be better for everyone if I just went away," she told him quietly. If she was being honest with herself, she knew that she was a danger to everyone around me, but she really wanted to go on this quest and reclaim Erebor.

In her head, she imagined the sixteen of them (Gandalf included) making it all the way to the Lonely Mountain safely and killing the dragon. Then the gold would be theirs, and Erebor would once more be a great kingdom. Then she shook the image out of her head. She would never be part of that group. She was a danger to everyone she was close to.

"It wouldn't be better, Thruda," Thorin said. "We would just be worse off. Don't you get it? We need you on this quest, Thruda, or else we'll fail."

"Why?" she demanded. "I'm just another member of this Company!"

Thorin groaned. "You're female!" he shouted. "Don't you get it? You remind us of all that we have to gain by taking the Mountain back- a stable life, a family! You give us hope, Thruda! You can't leave!" His expression softened. "I wouldn't be able to stand it if you left."

She hesitated, not having thought about it that way. Was it true that she gave the Company hope? She hadn't realized it. "There's still the fact that I could hurt someone," she said softly.

"You can control it. I believe in you," Thorin replied. "Now that you know that you have the staff, you'll be more careful. You're not going to hurt anybody. I promise." Then he smiled. "Well, you're not going to hurt anybody besides our enemies."

He really wasn't making it easy for her to leave. She was needed with the Company... She shook her head to clear it. She had to leave. For their safety. Thorin had to understand that.

When she didn't reply, Thorin groaned. "Do you ever listen?" he growled. "Do I need to get the hobbit here to talk you out of this? You're not leaving the Company until the kingdom is ours, Thruda, and that's the end of this discussion."

"Do you have a death wish?" Thruda demanded. "I could kill you by accident just because you got on my nerves. I don't want to risk anyone. You're... Everyone in the Company is too important to loose." Thruda mentally kicked herself for almost saying that he, specifically, was too important.

Thorin stepped forward and took her hands in his. "Including you," he said. "Please stay with us." After a second of hesitation, she shook her head. "I didn't want to play this card, Thruda, but you signed the contract. And if there's anything that I know about you, it's that you don't break your word."

She started cursing Thorin under her breath. "Fine!" she exclaimed after a long pause. "If you want me to possibly go nuclear and vaporize everyone in a ten-mile radius before we even get to the Mountain, fine! I'll stay!"

"Thank you," Thorin said, relief apparent in his voice.

Then she turned to him. "What's Azog's deal?" she asked. "He was acting like it was a personal grudge he had against you."

"I chopped of his arm," Thorin answered honestly. Then he went on to explain the battle of Moria, how he had watched his grandfather die in front of him and his father being dragged into the mines, how he had stood up to the Pale Orc, and how he had gotten the name of "Oakenshield."

She gave him a long look. Finally, she snapped, "Are you kidding me? You went ahead and retook Moria and got everyone killed! And you managed to get one of the _most powerful Orcs_ of our time to make it his personal mission to kill you!"

Thorin, who hadn't expected her anger, muttered, "Well, he already wanted to wipe out the Durin line."

"And worst of all," Thruda continued as if he hadn't spoken, "you _didn't invite me_!" His jaw dropped open. She had wanted to be invited? "I missed out on kicking some Orc butt!"

He smiled and was about to say something when it started raining. It was a sunshower. Thruda grinned. "A sunshower!" she said happily, laughing.

Thorin's smile widened as he looked up at the sky. "We should probably get going," he told her as it started raining harder. "I don't want you to catch a cold." He took off his sky-blue coat and placed it on her shoulders, pulling up the hood.

"Race you back to Beorn's!" she challenged, starting to run.

"No fair!" Thorin called after her, starting to run as well. "You got a head start!"

She turned around and gave him a grin. "All's fair in war!" she told him.

"Or in love, in that case," he reminded her.

Trust Thorin to ruin a moment.

Then he stumbled, tripping and almost falling face-first. Thruda caught him by his hand and tugged him along, laughing at him. He started laughing, too, and that was how they entered Beorn's house; drenched, laughing, and holding hands.

When the door closed behind Thorin and Thruda, the chatter in the room stopped as the dwarves, Gandalf, and Beorn stared at them, shocked. Thruda looked at them and smiled nervously. For some reason she didn't feel like she wanted them to know that they were hanging out together. Though technically, they were just coming back from a canceled fighting lesson...

"Thorin and Thruda," Gandalf greeted them in a cheerful tone. He was acting like he was trying not to break glass. "What have you been doing?"

Thruda shifted her weight awkwardly. "Thorin was teaching me how to defend myself in case I loose my weapons," she answered. "We came back when it started raining."

Gandalf nodded. "Interesting," he said. "And how did the lesson go?"

Fili and Kili whistled in synch, causing Thorin to roll his eyes and Thruda to smack them on the back of their heads. "Shut up, you idiots," she told them crossly. "It went fine, thank you very much." She slipped off her muddy shoes and walked further into the room, sitting down by Beorn's feet. "Continue talking," she said. "I assume you were in a nice conversation before Thorin and I came in?"

"Yes, we were," Beorn agreed. "Some of the dwarves were telling me about your feud with Master Oakenshield, Thruda."

Thruda groaned. "Let me guess," she said. "Balin, Fili, and Kili were running their big mouths. Gandalf probably was talking, too." Beorn nodded, and the dwarves whose names Thruda mentioned turned red. Gandalf, however, acted as if nobody was talking and stared at Beorn and Thruda.  
"You two are cute together," Beorn observed.  
"Not you, too!" she exclaimed. "Gandalf and Elrond have been driving me nuts about it! Can I get a moment of peace?!"

Suddenly, they heard a loud howl from outside. Thruda stiffened; Wargs were coming. "Apparently not," Beorn said. "Hurry, you must leave now or else they will catch you. Take ponies and horses but send them back before you enter Mirkwood." He stood up and ushered them quickly out, looking behind him for danger. "Remember, while in the forest, don't drink the water and never, ever leave the path. I have replenished your supplies, so hopefully you won't starve. As long as you know your way around, you should be able to go through the forest without starving."

Beorn slammed the door to the stables closed and whistled. Fifteen ponies and one horse came. "I will see you again, hopefully," Thorin told Beorn as we mounted the ponies. "We owe you much for hosting us."

"It was nothing," Beorn said, patting him on the back. "And, hopefully, when we see each other again, you'll hold the lady's heart."

Thruda frowned. "I heard that!" she called to Beorn as she rode her pony out of the stables with Bilbo behind her. "See you soon, Beorn. Once we reclaim Erebor, I'll come back and visit."


	14. Chapter 13

They left Beorn's house swiftly, riding the ponies as quickly as they could. The Wargs weren't far behind, and that probably meant that goblins were with them. Thruda prayed that Beorn's house wouldn't get destroyed as the goblins passed through; she knew better than to think that the goblins could take out the mighty skin-changer. She was mostly concerned about his house and animals.

The Wargs let out another howl, much closer than before. Thruda shuddered and instantly glanced towards Thorin to make sure that he was alright and saw him staring at her with concern. She turned red and looked away. She had no clue why she had wanted to make sure that he was okay.

"Thruda, come ride with me," Thorin said. Thruda shot Bilbo an apologetic look and went to ride next to Thorin. "We need to have a plan."

Thruda gave him a blank look. "A plan?" she asked. "A plan for what?"

"Going through Mirkwood," Thorin answered. "I'm sure we have enough supplies, but there are dangers that we cannot reckon against. Also, this path is an Elven path, so we're technically trespassing on their land."

For a second, she was surprised, because she had forgotten that Elves lived in Mirkwood, which had previously been called Greenwood. The name had been changed because an evil had crept up on the forest recently. Thruda shuddered to think of passing through it. But hopefully they would move swiftly enough that they could get out of the woods quickly.

"We can handle Elves," Thruda reassured him. "If you let Bilbo and I do the talking, we should be able to get past peacefully." Thorin opened his mouth to protest, but Thruda cut him off. "You know it's true. You're just going to end up fighting with them."

Thorin sighed and closed his eyes. Thruda looked at him, concerned. She noticed how his shoulders slumped and he had sleep circles under his eyes. He looked stressed, as well.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax," she said softly. "I'll get the Company to Mirkwood. You just rest until we get there, okay?"

For a second it looked like he was going to protest, but he nodded. "Thanks, Thruda," he told her. She smiled at him, and they rode in a comfortable silence. Behind them, Thruda heard Fili and Kili teasing Bilbo. Somehow she wasn't surprised.

"Will you ever forgive me?" Thorin asked suddenly.

Thruda, taken aback at his bluntness, hesitated. "I think I'm already on my way to forgiving you, Thorin," she muttered under her breath, only loud enough for him to hear. He smiled and looked relieved, and she slowed her pace so that she was riding with Fili, Kili, and Bilbo.

After a few days, Thruda slowed their pace, standing in front of Mirkwood. She had been leading the group on while Thorin rested. There was an unspoken truce between the two. Thruda, even though she didn't want to admit it, had realized how much Thorin still meant to her while escaping Goblin Town and was ready to accept him as a friend. Thorin felt grateful that Thruda seemed to have forgiven him and was now treating him like a distant friend. It seemed like their relationship was slowly building again, brick by brick.

"This is where I leave you," Gandalf said as they all looked at the dark forest of Mirkwood. Thruda hated it already. "Tomorrow morning I must go." The dwarves started whining again, but Gandalf cut them off. "I have pressing business. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with you before you enter Erebor."

Thorin frowned. "But you're our wizard!" he protested. "Your presence would help us get through Mirkwood safely!"

"You have a wizard," Gandalf reminded him, shooting a pointed look at Thruda.

Thruda scowled. "No, you don't," she snapped.

"You are a wizard, no matter what you say, Thruda," Gandalf told her.

She grumbled, "I'm not trained. I won't be any help."

Gandalf smiled. "Are you implying that you wish to be trained?" he asked.

Thruda's mouth dropped open. "No!" she exclaimed, shocked that he had even thought that. "I'm just stating how I won't be much help!"

"Very well, then," Gandalf said. "But I still must leave at dawn tomorrow."

The next morning, they all bid Gandalf farewell. "Let the ponies go, Bofur," Gandalf ordered.

"Must we?" Bombur asked instantly.

Gandalf glared. "You gave Beorn your word," he told the dwarf sharply. "He has shown you nothing but kindness, but yet you want to keep what is rightfully his." Bombur flushed as he let the ponies go. "Besides, he has been following us."

Thruda perked up. "He has?" she asked, looking around for the skin-changer who was like a father to her.

The wizard looked up at the sun. "I must take my leave now," he announced. "Hopefully I will be able to meet up with you before you enter Erebor. Goodbye! Be good, take care of yourself, and _don't leave the path_!" With that, he jumped on his horse and left the dwarves behind, watching his retreating back.

"Well, aren't wizards dramatic," Thruda remarked dryly, causing everyone to laugh. Then, with a glance behind, they entered Mirkwood.

"I really don't like this place," Thruda said after a few minutes of travelling in silence. Fili and Kili shot her a _no duh_ look from in front of her. She rolled her eyes as she passed them to walk next to Thorin. "It's not just that it's all dark and everything. I feel... like everything's dying around us. There's a disease in this forest." She shuddered. "Even the trees are evil."

Thorin frowned. "We will have to be careful," he said. "We'll always stay together when we can, and if we have something urgent, then always bring one person with you."

Thruda wondered how she was supposed to go bathroom if she couldn't leave someone else's sight.

For another few minutes, nobody said anything. The forest was affecting them all. Even Fili and Kili weren't laughing and fooling around like usual. Thruda kept walking with Thorin. She felt that he would think that he needed to be strong in front of all the other dwarves because he was the leader, all the while forgetting that he needed someone to lean on, as well, and she wanted him to remember that she could also share some of the burden of leadership.

"What's been up with you recently?" Thorin asked to break the silence.

Thruda grinned. "The sky," she joked, causing him to laugh. "Well, what have you been doing?" Thruda asked him. Even though he had been resting for the few days that it took to get to Mirkwood, Thorin looked tense and tired. Maybe it had something to do with the evil of the forest. She was concerned about him.

He turned his head to look at her. "Blacksmithing," he answered. "Getting money for my family." He turned his head to look at Fili and Kili, who were whispering amongst themselves. "Dis will never forgive me if they don't come back."

Thruda put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," she told him comfortingly. "Fili and Kili are warriors. They'll survive."

Thorin turned away from Fili and Kili. "So what about you?" he replied. "What have you been doing?"

"Mostly preforming," she said instantly. "Nobody would really take me seriously as a warrior, and I suck at blacksmithing. Playing the guitar was really the only thing I could do."

He nodded. "Did you improve?" he asked.

Thruda looked offended. "I'd hope so, considering all the time I've had to practice," she answered. "It's been, what, one hundred years?"

"One-eighty," Thorin corrected her instantly. "Why don't you play something for us when we stop for the night?" Thruda shifted uncomfortably. "Or not," Thorin added. "It's up to you."

She looked him closely, noting that he was staring straight ahead. His jaw was tense, and he was acting like he was treading on eggshells. Thruda realized that he was trying desperately to stay in her good graces and get her to forgive him. And she also thought that he was asking more than for her to play with that last question; he was asking for forgiveness.

"Maybe," she told him tactfully. "It depends on my mood."

They travelled in silence for a few minutes. There was no sound coming from either of them, the rest of the dwarves, or even the forest. Thruda shuddered and wondered if anything lived there. She hoped that if they stayed on the path, they wouldn't see any of the evil creatures that her mind's eye pictured.

"Why didn't you come live with us in the Blue Mountains?" Thorin asked her, still looking straight ahead.

"I don't think I was ready to forgive you yet," she said after a few seconds of hesitation. "Or I could have just been too afraid to."

Thorin finally looked at her. "Are you ready to forgive me now?"

Thruda sighed. "Maybe, Thorin," she told him. "Maybe." And with that she fell back to ride with Bilbo.

"What were you and Thorin talking about?" Bilbo asked instantly, picking up on her mood.

She ignored him and kept riding. Her eyes were on Thorin's back as he started talking with Dwalin. Occasionally it seemed like Thorin was going to turn around and look at her, but Dwalin stopped him before he could. Thruda frowned; were they talking about her? If Thorin wanted to find out how to get her to forgive him, Dwalin was the best person to ask.

"Have you ever been in love, Bilbo?" Thruda inquired thoughtfully.

The hobbit looked confused. "No," he answered. "Why?" Thruda didn't answer but stared at Thorin with a thoughtful look. "Are you falling back in love with him?"

Thruda flinched. "No!" she exclaimed. She took a deep breath. "No," she said again. "We're friends. Coworkers. That's it."

Bilbo didn't reply, but he thought about what would happen if Thruda got together with Thorin. The dwarves had told him what had happened between them on Erebor during the journey when they both weren't listening, and he knew that Thruda still wouldn't be able to marry Thorin because he was a prince and she was nothing. But if Gandalf trained her and she became a representative of the wizard people, she would have a high enough position to marry Thorin.

He knew that they were meant for each other. Thruda's sense of humor could bring Thorin out of the dark places in his mind (well, it would if Thruda ever forgave him enough to accept him as a friend and show him her sense of humor), and Thorin's seriousness and brooding kept Thruda from going completely wild and being reckless by giving her something to care for. Thruda was good with people, and Thorin was good with strategies. They would both contribute to whatever group they were in, just as they were to the Company. Bilbo doubted that Thorin and Thruda really knew the degree of respect that the dwarves (and Bilbo) started giving them (as a group) after they started working together on the trip to Mirkwood. In their minds, their leader and second and command were really one person, each one dividing the responsibilities equally amongst themselves. When one of them was tired, the other did his or her best to cover both their job and their counterpart's. The two of them just... worked. They flowed. It was effortless; Bilbo knew that both dwarves didn't even realize that they were doing it, or else Thruda would have realized that Thorin was right for her.

Despite all the ways that they would help of each other, Bilbo doubted that Thruda would let Gandalf train her, and therefore she would never be the wizards' representative. Was it doomed to be an impossible love? If only one of them would put aside their stubbornness. The only possible solutions were that Thruda could be trained as a wizards' representative, or Thorin put aside his crown. Bilbo doubted that either of them would agree to that.

They stopped for the night after a few more hours. At least, they assumed it was night. The canopy above them was so dense that they couldn't see the sun at all. Thruda shivered, feeling her claustrophobia acting up as she sat down on a log a little ways off from the other dwarves. She needed fresh air, to see the sun...

Thruda flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see that Thorin had walked up to her. "Are you okay?" he asked her, concern apparent in his eyes. She remembered that Thorin knew about her claustrophobia.

"Yeah," she answered, shivering as she did. She drew her coat tighter around her and looked up at the sky. "I just want to see the sun and to actually be able to breathe again, you know?"

He nodded as he sat down beside her. "I think we all do," he agreed. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. "Why don't you play something for us tonight? You can change your bow into a guitar," he suggested. "It would probably make us all feel better.

Thruda looked at him. He wasn't looking at her but was staring at the other dwarves. They were all sitting together in a circle, the wood piled for a fire in the middle. However, there wasn't a fire lit, despite how cold they were; Gloin and Oin had tried when they first camped, but the light brought dozens of giant eyes looking at them in the blackness, and Thruda had put out the fire before they could attack. Thruda knew that Thorin was concerned for his people. She was, too.

"Sure," she agreed to his surprise. "I'll play something." She stood up and walked back to the camp, Thorin following behind her. Thruda elbowed herself a spot in the circle in the middle of Fili and Kili, and the three of them got into a brief tussle that ended with all of them grinning at each other and Thruda in between them. Thorin was standing outside the circle.

"Thorin convinced me to play something," Thruda announced, grabbing her bow and focusing on the form of her guitar. The bow changed, and she had an exact replica of her own guitar in her hands. "If any of you know this song, feel free to sing along."

The dwarves instantly turned to her, waiting for her to start. Thruda picked the first song that came to her mind, which was one that she had picked up in Bree when other hobbits sang it, so Bilbo knew this certain tune. She strummed the right chords and started singing.

" _When the world is breaking down around you taking everything that you know what you didn't know is that we can go forever if we want to. We can live inside of a moment, the one that we own._

 _"You and me we got this. You and me we're beautiful, beautiful._

 _"We all, we all, we're gonna be alright. We got, we got, we always got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight like there's no tomorrow 'cause we're the afterlife."_ Bilbo started whistling along and tapping his foot with the music, earning him a brief smile from Thruda and a confused look from Balin.

 _"Living like you're dying isn't living at all. Give me your cold hands, out them on my heart. Raise a glass to everyone who thinks they'll never make it through this life to live a brand-new start._

 _"You and me we got this. You and me we're beautiful, beautiful._

 _"We all, we all, we're gonna be alright. We got, we got, we always got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight. Like there's no tomorrow, 'cause we're the afterlife. 'Cause we're the afterlife._

 _"Every time I close my eyes I hear your favorite song. Telling me not to run, not to worry anymore. I can hold on tight to nothing better than the rest. So it's now or never more._

 _"We all, we all, we're gonna be alright. We got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight like there's no tomorrow 'cause we're the afterlife._

 _"We all, we all, we're gonna be alright. We got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight. Like there's no tomorrow 'cause we're the afterlife._

 _"We all, we call we're gonna be alright. We got, we got, we always got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight like there's no tomorrow 'cause we're the after life. 'Cause we're the afterlife. 'Cause we're the afterlife_

 _"We all, we all, we're gonna be alright. We got, we got, we always got the fight in us. We all, we all, we're gonna live tonight like there's no tomorrow 'cause we're the afterlife."_

Thruda finished the song and looked up from her guitar. The dwarves' eyes were misty, and several turned away to wipe their eyes when she was done.

"That was beautiful," Balin said thickly, finally breaking the silence. "Thank you, Thruda. That gave me the hope that we will actually get out of this blasted forest."

She smiled at him. "You're welcome," she replied. "That's what I was hoping."

Thorin walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, then, as Thruda says, we got the fight in us! We will have Mirkwood at our backs after a few more days, and then after that, we will be in front of the doors of Erebor!" he shouted, and the dwarves let out a huge cheer, spirits lifted.


	15. Chapter 14

After a few more days, they were still in the forest. Their food had run out the other day, and their last drop of water had been wasted when Bombur had added some to the last of the powdered soup to make it more liquidy. So the dwarves were starving, thirsty, and cold, since they still couldn't light a fire.

Thorin and Thruda were pulling out all the stops to keep their spirits up. The two of them had grown steadily closer throughout the journey and were now almost as comfortable with each other as they had been in Erebor. The dwarves noticed that and started taking bets about when (or if) they would get back together. Even though gambling and talking about their leaders gave them some entertainment, it was Bilbo that gave them their first bit of good news, even if it wasn't good in the end.

"Stop!" Bilbo cried out one day. Thorin signaled to the others to stop and turned to Bilbo. "I hear water!"

They all perked up as Bilbo led them at a jogging pace (jogging for them, running for him) on the path to the river. Soon the dwarves could hear it, as well, and their hopes rose even higher. Then, when they saw the river, their hears dropped- the river was a sickly black.

"We shouldn't drink it," Thruda said automatically. "It's poisoned."

Bombur frowned. "How do you know?" he asked grumpily, staring happily at the water with a wistful look on his face. "I want to drink!"

"She's half wizard, that's why!" Ori said, frowning at the fat dwarf.

Thruda smiled at him. "No, Ori, it's common sense," she told him gently. "But thanks for sticking up for me." She turned back to the river, smile gone. "Look, the path goes over the river. We need to cross it, but I don't think we should touch it."

"There's a boat!" Bilbo exclaimed. "I see it- it's on the other side of the river! We need to get it over!"

Kili, who had the best eyesight out of the dwarves, picked up a rope with a hook on the end and threw it. He tried to get it on the deck of the boat but kept missing.

Thruda watched Kili as he threw the rope. His normal joking demeanor was gone, replaced with a look of intense focus that was familiar to her- he looked like a splitting image of his uncle at that age. Thruda smiled, remembering her old relationship with Thorin. It had been effortless; they had worked like bread and butter. But now, their personalities clashed. They were too independent, and that somehow caused them to get into a lot of arguments, but it didn't cause any of them to be angry.

She wondered why she had just thought that she didn't get angry at Thorin when they argued. He was able to get under her skin and get her so angry... They were friends now, and that was all she thought of him as. A particularly annoying friend.

Soon, Kili was able to get the rope onto the boat, and the dwarves worked together to pull the boat towards their side. When it came into view, Thruda saw that it was nothing but a rowboat made of wood. There was no way that it would fit all of them at once. They would have to go in groups of two and send the boat back after the other group made it to the opposite side.

Thorin thought the same thing. "Two people per ride," he ordered. "We'll send the boat back afterwards. Thruda, you're coming with me. We're going first."

As he helped her into the boat, Thruda leaned in so that her mouth was by his ear. "If our boat sinks, then both the first and second in command are lost. Do you think that that's a good idea?" she whispered, causing him to shiver because of how close she was to him.

"We will not sink," Thorin told her. "I'm an expert boatman." Thruda scoffed as he got into the boat behind her, remembering when he had convinced her to go boating with him. They were in a rowboat like this one, and Thorin had capsized the boat. In that situation, it had been funny. This time, it could be deadly. Thruda didn't even know what the river would do if one of them touched its deadly-looking waters.

They made it across safely and sent the boat back. After a few trips, everybody had come across besides Bombur, who was too fat to ride with anybody besides himself. Thruda watched him come across, thinking that they had passed the river without mishap and they could continue on to Lake-town, starving. But then she heard a bush rustling and turned around, bow in hand, and saw a stag jump out. She almost dropped her bow and watched its gracefulness, its beauty, as it ran towards the river. Why was a creature of such beauty in a forest as dark as Mirkwood?

She didn't realize that the stag was any danger until it knocked Bombur out of the boat and into the water before leaping across the bank. Thruda shot it, thinking of food, but it landed in the water. She cursed and helped Bifur and Bofur pull Bombur out of the river. It was a team effort, each of them pulling as hard as they could to move him an inch.

When Bombur was on land and Ori was looking at him, Thruda turned to Thorin. He was yelling at Kili for wasting the last of their arrows on trying to hit the stag. Kili was arguing right back, his voice as loud as his uncle's. "Better waste them on hope than keep them for a time that will never come!" Kili shouted angrily.

"There are Elves in the wood!" Thorin yelled. "We are now defenseless besides our swords!"

The others stared awkwardly on, but Thruda walked up to both of them. "Both of you need to quiet your voices," she said. "As Thorin said, there are Elves. We could alert them and other beasts to our presence here." She looked around at the treetops, which were covered with giant cobwebs. "If they don't already know," she added.

It seemed like the two of them were going to start shouting at her when the three of them caught sight of a giant, hairy leg in the trees that instantly disappeared. "We should move," Kili said hastily.

"I agree," Thorin replied. "We will have to carry Bombur if he is still alive."

Thruda nodded. "He is," she told him. "It seems like he's in an enchanted sleep." Then she grinned. "Maybe he needs his true love's kiss to wake him up." She nudged Kili jokingly, causing him to turn red as everyone roared with laughter. "Just joking, Kili. Let's move, guys!"

They headed out, three people holding Bombur while the others split the four of their packs up evenly amongst themselves so that they all held an equal load. Everyone was in a bad mood, and some people just wanted to dump Bombur back in the river so they didn't have to deal with the extra weight. Overall, for the next few days, nobody was happy. Everyone wanted to just be out of Mirkwood, but it seemed like the path went on forever and ever. Even Thruda didn't have enough energy to fight with Thorin, which was saying something, since every day since they set out from Bag End, an argument between Thorin and Thruda took place without exception.

The next day, everyone was in a bad mood. Nobody had slept well, and carrying Bombur and his supplies weren't helping the matter. So when they saw a light ahead of them and heard some laughter, everyone couldn't help but get their hopes up. If there were people, there was most likely food with them, and they wouldn't starve to death before they got out of this endless forest. "Are we going to go check it out?" Thruda asked Thorin from next to him.

Thorin was about to reply, but then Bombur let out a groan. They all turned to look at Bombur, who started struggling to get out of Bifur and Bofur's grasps. "Let me go!" he shouted. "Let me go!"

"Let him go," Thorin said. "He'll make too much noise.

So Bifur and Bofur dropped him, where he instantly sat up and started sobbing. "Why did I have to wake up?" he asked, voice filled with grief. "I was at a marvelous feast. The food there... I was in heaven!"

Thorin and Thruda exchanged a concerned look as Bombur started launching into detailed descriptions of the food he ate, and everyone who was listening to him felt their hunger keenly. He really wasn't helping the situation.

"Press on!" Thorin ordered. "And give Bombur back his pack." As people gave Bombur back his things, Thruda heard Thorin mutter, "It's about time he's not dead weight." She knew that she was probably the only one who heard him because she was walking next to him.

They started walking again, still wary of the light and laughing voices that they could hear from up ahead. Bombur kept moaning about all the foods he had eaten while asleep and complained horribly about the lack of food. Thruda started getting annoyed at him, and she could tell that Thorin was, too.

After a while, they could see where the light was coming from and who was laughing. There were Elves surrounding a long table filled with delicious- looking food, laughing loudly and joking around. The light was obviously coming from them, but Thruda couldn't see a fire or candle or any other explanation for the light.

"It looks like my dream!" Bombur exclaimed. Then he started talking even more about the food, pointing out certain dishes and describing everything from how it first tasted when you bit into it and how it felt when it melted in your mouth. Thruda felt her mouth water.

Bilbo looked at the Elves. "They're off the path!" he observed unhappily. "If we go up to them, we'll disobey Beorn and Gandalf!"

Thorin's gaze went from his starving Company to the merrymaking Elves. Thruda could tell that he was silently debating if it was worth it or not to stay off the path. However, Bombur seemed to be weakening everyone's resolve by telling them about the food.

Thruda pulled Thorin and Balin a little bit away from the other dwarves. "Let's go check it out," Thruda suggested. "We'll still be within sight of the path, so we can always double back if we get in trouble."

Balin looked at the Elves and then at the path. "I don't think so," he said. "We should be almost out of the forest now, and from there it's only a few days' travel to Lake-town. We'll last."

"Everyone's hungry," Thruda hissed to both of them. "Have you noticed how low everybody's spirits are? We need this food for more than the sake of getting food in our stomachs. Like Kili said, it's better to waste arrows on hope than on something that will never be."

Thorin looked from Thruda to Balin to the Company and to the Elves, thinking and weighing the risks. What Thruda said was true; everyone was disheartened. They needed to feel like they were actually doing something besides wandering pointlessly, and it would be nice to eat something for once.

"I agree with Thruda," he finally said. "Let's go to at least look." Balin frowned but followed Thorin as the three of them headed back to the other dwarves. "We're going to talk to the Elves," Thorin announced, causing everyone to smile for the first time in a while. Thruda was right; they needed something to boost their spirits.

Thorin walked ahead first, hand tight on the hilt of Orcrist. Thruda was right behind him, clenching her bow and having a hand on an arrow in her quiver. The other dwarves followed them in the same fashion, keeping a sharp eye out for dangers. Bilbo shot a longing look back at the path but didn't dare leave the group of dwarves.

When they approached the Elves, the light went out, and they were surrounded by blackness. "Thorin!" Thruda shouted, concerned.

"Thruda!" he called back, and Thruda felt around fro him. Soon she found his hand and grasped it tightly.

Then the light reappeared in a different area, and the Elves had moved with it. "Maybe we scared them," Thruda suggested.

Thorin nodded. "Bilbo, try talking to them," he ordered.

Bilbo went ahead nervously, but when he got close to the others, the light went out again. "Help!" Thruda heard him squeak. "Thruda, Thorin! Balin, Dwalin! Nori, Dori, Ori! Gloin, Oin! Fili, Kili! Bifur, Bofur, Bombur!"

"Calm down, Bilbo," Thruda said. She took her bow and focused on it. Soon it started glowing dimly, not bright enough to draw the attention of the monsters in the forest but enough for Bilbo to see. "Come here, towards the light." In a few seconds, Bilbo was standing next to Thruda and Thorin. Thruda looked at Thorin. "I should try," she told him. "I'm a girl." Thorin, even though he was unwilling to put her in harm's way, nodded and accepted the logic of her plan.

She walked forward, putting the arrow she was grasping back in her quiver and slinging her bow across her back. If she was going to masquerade as a harmless girl, holding weapons would ruin it.

Eventually she made it up to the Elves. They looked like they were about to vanish, but a teenage-looking Elf with long blonde (almost white) hair and grey-blue eyes stopped them. "What is your name, fair maiden?" he asked.

"Geniliva the Wanderer," she answered, making up a name off the top of her head. "I was passing from the house of Beorn the skin-changer to Lake-town but lost my supplies a few days ago. I am now starving and was hoping to ask for some food."

The Elf nodded and gestured for her to sit down at their table. "I am Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil, King of Mirkwood," he told her. "We would be honored if you joined us and told us your story."

Thruda decided to use the method Gandalf had used with Beorn. "Before a few months ago, I had no purpose in life. I preformed in inns all around and barely made it by," she said. "Then, one day, Gandalf the Grey Wizard recruited me for a quest. He told me that he would meet me, and a couple other of old acquaintances of mine, at the Shire in a house called Bag- End. There we met Bilbo Baggins the hobbit."

"Where are your friends now?" Legolas asked, curiosity piqued.

She laughed. "Oh, you see, I went ahead. They've probably caught up to me now. Look, there they are!" She pointed to Balin, Dwalin, and Bilbo, who had come out all together. Thruda was relieved that they understood what she had been trying to do.

Legolas's polite face turned to one of disgust. "Dwarves?" he demanded. "You travel with dwarves?" Then he looked at her closely. "Ah, I see. You, too, are a dwarf. Or at least half dwarf, as you do not have a beard like other Dwarf women. Traitors!" He glanced at the other Elves, and they all disappeared.

"That didn't go well," Thruda stated.

The four of them headed back to the other dwarves, who looked up hopefully. But when they saw that they returned empty-handed, they frowned.

After a few more seconds, the light reappeared, and the Elves acted like nothing happened. Thruda saw Legolas laughing with other Elves and remembered the disgusted expression he had worn. "I shall go this time," Thorin declared angrily, storming off towards them.

"Bad idea!" Thruda told him, but he was already too far away for him to hear her. She cursed and was about to follow him when Bilbo tugged her sleeve. His eyes wide, he pointed upwards. Thruda slowly lifted her head to see what he was pointing at.

It was a giant spider.

Her eyes widened so that they were the size of Bilbo's. She wasn't as scared of spiders as closed spaces, but this was a giant one...

She shook her head, telling herself to snap out of it, and shot at it. Its dead body fell in front of them, but Thruda didn't even flinch. She grabbed Bilbo's arm and yanked him towards the others. "Giant spiders!" she shouted to them. "Run!"

They did as she said, and Thruda pushed Bilbo ahead with them. She turned to look for the light, the Elves, and Thorin, but she hadn't realized that the light had gone out.

Thruda felt something hairy behind her, and she sliced out with her sword. She tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach as its severed head rolled to a stop at her feet.

Starting to feel worried, she tried to remember what the area had looked like while the light was there. Once she had a clear picture of it in her head, she walked towards the path, putting her heel to her toes so that she walked in a straight line. Once or twice, she ran into a few trees, but she walked around them and sighed in relief when she felt the path beneath her feet. Instantly, she collapsed on the path and fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 15

When she woke up the next day, Thruda realized that in her panic, she had forgotten about Thorin. Had the Elves taken him? Had he joined the others? Where were the others?

She decided that if they were free, the dwarves would try to get on the path, which she was on now. So if she wanted to meet up with them, she would have to follow the path and hopefully find them somewhere and all in one piece.

Thruda sat up and groaned, a sudden headache hitting her. She rubbed her head and looked around, scanning the area for any danger. There was none that she could find, so she stood up and, after stretching, started walking on the path. There were no spiders in sight, but she kept her sword out just in case. After a few hours of not seeing anything going after her, she started to relax and even put her sword away. If she could get out of the forest and find the Company, she would be at ease. Or, she would be until she faced the dragon.

She heard some shouting in front of her and headed towards the noise but made sure she kept out of sight. After a little while and a little bit of tree climbing, she saw the source of the commotion- she had reached the Elven Kingdom of Mirkwood.

The castle looked like it was made out of trees. Thruda observed that it was the same sickly dark color that the rest of the forest was, and she frowned. If this darkness was so powerful that it was affecting even the Elves' land, she shuddered to think of what it could do to the rest of the world. The castle was as tall as the tallest trees with the topmost tower of the castle above the canopy. Even though it was affected by the sickness, Thruda couldn't help but admire the majesty of the castle of Mirkwood.

It seemed like a duel was taking place in the middle of the courtyard which a lot of Elves were watching. Thruda, from up high in the trees, watched as a male Elf with long blonde hair blocked a vicious blow from a red-haired female Elf. They were grinning at each other and shouting friendly taunts as they fought. Thruda couldn't help but be amazed by the grace in which they moved.

Then she realized that the blonde male Elf was Prince Legolas.

Thruda frowned, remembering how he had refused her and her Company food. She knew that she would hold a grudge against the Elvish prince for a while because of that but doubted that she would keep it up for one hundred and eighty years, like she had with Thorin.

Suddenly, Legolas was on top of the red-haired Elf, sword at her throat. "C'mon, Tauriel, bringing in the dwarves shouldn't have tired you out that much," he teased.

Thruda's eyes narrowed; they had brought in dwarves? They must have her Company! How many other dwarves would wander through Mirkwood needlessly?

"It's not just that, Legolas," Tauriel snapped as the crowd dispersed. "It's you being a pompous ass that makes me tired." Legolas roared with laughter and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, causing some of the Elves to smile knowingly.

Two female Elves passed by Thruda's tree. "It is clear that Tauriel loves the Prince," one said to the other. "It is a shame that she is just the Captain of the Guards and that Prince Legolas's father is looking for a bride from another Elven kingdom for him."

Thruda's eyes widened as she grinned. She now knew how she was going to get into the castle to free her friends.

When the Elves passed, Thruda jumped out of the tree and hid in the shadows a little while off. She took out her bow and turned it back into the wizard's staff. With a sigh of regret (she really didn't want to use magic, but she didn't want to let her friends die in the Elves' dungeons), she pointed it at herself and pictured herself as an Elf.

She felt her muscles suddenly stretch as her height was nearly doubled and her ears turned pointy. It was a good thing her clothes grew as well, or else she would look really weird in clothes that were too tight and small for her.

Once she felt her muscles stop growing and stretching, she turned her staff into a mirror and looked at herself. She had to admit, she looked regal as an Elf. Her beauty (which many had remarked upon when she was a dwarf) was increased. Before, she had thought Tauriel (the only female Elf she had ever seen) was beautiful, but Thruda was much more beautiful than Tauriel now. Her cheekbones were higher, her nose (which she had often thought of as too long) was a proper size, and she held herself with a certain grace that she hadn't had before. Her hair was now straight and blonde and put up in a sloppy bun. Her eyes were a piercing electric blue. She also noticed that her senses were now as strong as the Elves'.

Now that she was sure that she looked like an Elf, Thruda changed her staff into a necklace, which sparkled brightly even without the sun. She didn't want it to change into a bow just in case her weapons were taken from her when she entered the castle. Without her sword, she would feel bare, but if she didn't have any means of defense, she wouldn't be able to rest. Unwillingly, she took off the necklace that Thorin had given her and hid it in a hidden compartment in her sword scabbard; if Thanduil saw it, he would surely know that she wasn't who she claimed she was. In fact, Thruda doubted that she would be able to take it out during her stay in Mirkwood at all. Once she thought she was ready, she headed into the open and hurried to the castle.

The guards stopped her as soon as she was close to the closed doors of Mirkwood. "What is your name?" one asked. "State your business with the King."

Thruda glanced behind her shoulder, acting as if she had just come from a great ordeal (well, she had, but it didn't affect her as much as she was letting on). "My name is Calene, daughter of Celthric, King of Veldar," she answered. "And I have come from the Elvish kingdom from the South. My father, the king, sent me because he heard that the mighty King Thranduil wishes to find a bride for his son."

"There is no Elvish kingdom in the South," another guard snapped. "And I have never heard of a kingdom called Veldar."

She gave him an annoyed look. "It is not on Arda," she told him. "There is another continent south of Arda called Veldar. It is a land of the Elves."

"Just Elves?" the first guard asked. Thruda nodded. "No dwarves?" She nodded again.

The second guard let out a laugh. "No dwarves!" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't that be bliss! Come in, Princes Calene, and we will take you to the king!"

Thruda thought that they were being awfully trustful (after all, she hadn't even had to explain why she had no guards with her), but she didn't complain as they led her through twisting staircases to the throne room of the king of Mirkwood. The throne room (and the rest of the castle) were the same color as the outside of the castle and looked just as creepy. The most remarkable thing was the throne, which had giant elk antlers sticking out of the sides of it. Thruda wondered what animal had antlers like those.

"Introducing Princess Calene, daughter of Celthric, King of Veldar!" the first guard announced. Thruda realized that Legolas and Tauriel were also in the room and were staring at her with interest. Thruda hoped that Legolas didn't recognize her as the dwarf that had come begging for food when he had been merrymaking the other day.

King Thranduil stood as she walked to the middle of the throne room and bowed. "My Lord," she said.

The king walked in circles around her, observing her. "Where is the kingdom of Veldar?" he asked. "I have never heard of such a kingdom."

"Veldar is not just a kingdom, My Lord, but a continent," she answered. "It is to the south or Arda. It is a small continent, and only Elves live there."

Thranduil frowned. "Do you have any proof of this?" he asked.

"Yes, I do," Thruda told him confidently. She took off her necklace (well, it was really her staff) and showed it to him. "This is not made on Arda. Its material is not of this continent. A dwarf would surely be able to tell you that the words I speak are the truth."

The king's eyes narrowed as he took the necklace and observed it. "How do you know of dwarves if you live on a continent without them?" he asked. "And, on that topic, how did you know that I am looking for a bride for Legolas?"

Thruda pouted. "Your Majesty, you surely do not think that my people are clueless," she said. "We have our sources that I am not allowed to tell you about without my father's permission."

Thranduil looked at the necklace. There was a beautiful, glowing, red gem in the middle of the necklace, and what held the gem in place was a black material that looked like metal. The black material twisted and twined around itself so that it looked like a snake. He had never seen a necklace of that make before.

"Bring me a dwarf," Thranduil ordered Tauriel. She nodded and hurried out of the room. When she left, Thranduil turned to Thruda. "You look like a High Elf, Calene," he said. "Your beauty is unmatched even by the most beautiful of Elves in Mirkwood."

She smiled at him. "The Elves of Veldar are a very beautiful race, Your Majesty," she told him. "But I am considered remarkable."

Thranduil nodded and sat down on his throne, observing the Elf maiden carefully. "Perhaps you can tell me of Veldar," he suggested.

Calene smiled. "It is a beautiful land, My Lord," she said. "I have heard tales of the old Mirkwood and its beauty, but Veldar surpasses even the Greenwood of old. The trees are lush, the grass is soft, the flowers are always in bloom... It is like an endless summer there."

"Then why did you come to Mirkwood?" Thranduil asked.

"I will do what I must for my people," Calene told him. "And if that means marrying a foreign prince that is a stranger to me, so be it." She looked at Legolas. "Not meaning to insult you," she said to him. Legolas nodded to show that he hadn't taken offense.

Thranduil approved of this girl already. If he knew more about her culture, he would willingly accept her as the future Queen of Mirkwood if he visited her land before the marriage and met with Celthric, her father. "What is your culture like?" he inquired.

"Men and women of Veldar are equal," she answered to his surprise. "The women do as much of the hunting as men and actively use weapons."

The King of Mirkwood nodded. "Perhaps you would like to test your swordplay with Legolas or Tauriel later," he suggested, and she nodded. "But what language do you speak? What are some of your customs? Do they differ much from ours?"

"We speak in either the Common Tongue or Veldarian," Thruda answered. "We do not know the language of the Elves of Arda. Besides that, we are practically the same people."

Thranduil was about to keep asking questions, but Tauriel came in with the King Under the Mountain. Thranduil watched as the girl tensed, her eyes wide as she stared at the dwarf. Thranduil assumed that her reaction was because she had never seen the hideousness of a dwarf before. The dwarf glared at her as he walked by.

"Tell me what this metal is," Thranduil ordered, showing him the necklace.

Thorin spat at the necklace. "I will not do what an Elf tells me to," he snapped. He shot an angry glance at the Elf woman standing in the middle of the room. For some reason, she looked familiar. Her expression, her sword, her clothes... Where had he seen her before? Then he shook his head to clear it. He had never associated with Elves of any kind before. "Where did you pick up this whore?" he demanded. "Selling her body on the streets?" Her blue eyes filled with tears and she looked away from him. He wondered why he felt bad about insulting the female Elf.

"Very well, then," Thranduil snapped. "Tauriel, bring me another one."

Thruda watched as Tauriel led Thorin away, shoving him roughly in front of her. She wiped away some of the tears that were in her eyes. She had never noticed how much of a jerk Thorin was, and his words had hurt her feelings. Why didn't he recognize her? She hadn't changed that much... She sniffled as she thought of his hateful expression and harsh words.

"Ignore the stupidity of dwarves, Calene," Thranduil told her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You see now why we wish that Mirkwood was like Veldar, where no dwarves are?" She nodded, wiping away the last of her tears. "So, tell me, how come you are here alone?"

She gathered herself together and tried to shove Thorin into the back of her mind. She would cry later, when she was by herself. "Normally, women would not need to be protected, but since I am a princess travelling to strange lands for the first time, my father sent three men with me. They died when we were attacked by the spiders in the forest."

Thranduil nodded. "I am sorry," he said. "We all have a bone to pick with the spiders."

Tauriel came back in (much quicker this time) with another dwarf. Even though Thranduil hadn't bothered to learn the name of this dwarf, Thruda knew that it was Balin.

"Tell me what this metal is," Thranduil ordered again, holding out the necklace for Balin to see.

Balin was more cooperative and didn't even look at the Elf lady standing in the room. He leaned forward and looked at the metal, trying to figure out what it was. Finally he leaned away and shrugged. "It is not a metal found on this continent," he told Thranduil. "I have never seen it before."

Thruda held back a sigh of relief. She was glad that when she had changed her staff into the necklace, the magic of the staff had done something so that the necklace wasn't plain metal. That was the only proof that her story had.

"Very well," Thranduil said. He gestured to Tauriel to take the dwarf away. Once the door closed behind the two of them, Thranduil turned to the girl. "It seems like you tell the truth, Calene of Veldar," he told her. "Legolas, get her a room. Tomorrow, you will dine with us and tell us more of Veldar." She nodded as she was led away by Legolas.

On the way to her room, Thruda talked with Legolas, keeping the conversation light. She was interested in what he had to say and realized that he was a very thoughtful person (unlike the dwarves), but she was really thinking about how she was supposed to get the dwarves and Bilbo out of the castle.

Bilbo! Thranduil had never mentioned a hobbit, so he must have evaded capture! But was he hiding in the castle? Did he know she was here? Did he recognize her?

After a while, Legolas stopped and held open the door to her room for her. It was the same style as the rest of the castle. "Here is your room, Princess Calene," he told her. "Thank you for your talk. I will see you when we meet again."

Thruda smiled at him. "Thanks," she said. "And please, just call me Calene."

Legolas smiled back. "And just call me Legolas," he replied. Then he thought. "Well, I've never actually heard you call me Prince Legolas, so I doubt that I even needed to tell you not to call me that." They laughed, and Legolas shut the door behind him.

The second Legolas was gone, Thruda laid down on her bed and thought about the rashness of her decision. She had had to come up with a whole new continent just to get herself into the castle. She would have to stick with her (completely fictional) story for months. And who knows, maybe by then Thruda would have to marry Legolas, meaning that she couldn't go with the dwarves if she ever got them out of here.

Thinking of the dwarves made her think of Thorin and what he had said to her in the throne room. She started crying again. Why did he have to be so spiteful? Why hadn't he recognized her?

"Thruda?" a voice asked. Thruda turned around to see Bilbo standing uncertainly by the doorway, his hand in his pocket.

She grinned. "Bilbo!" she exclaimed, throwing herself at him and squeezing him. "Oh my god, you have no idea how glad I am that you're here!"

Once Bilbo was able to get her off of him so that he was able to breathe, he explained all that had happened with him and the rest of the dwarves since her absence. She, in turn, told him the events of the throne room, since he had been stealing food from the kitchens and had seen Legolas walking with an Elf lady who he had never seen before. It took him a little while, but he had been able to recognize her.

"Thorin's a jerk," he declared immediately after she finished her tale. "He seriously called you a prostitute?" She nodded. Then he jumped up. "I have to get this food to the dwarves!" he exclaimed, remembering why he had been in the kitchen in the first place. "They'll starve with only half a loaf of bread and a cup of water! See you later, Thruda!" And then he slipped his ring on and left her room.

After a few minutes, he had slipped past the guards and was in the dungeons. He took off his ring, dropped the bag he had the food in, walked right up to Thorin, and punched him in the nose.

Thorin cursed in Dwarvish and instantly tried to stop the flow of blood coming from his now broken nose. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"For calling Thruda a prostitute!" Bilbo shouted angrily.

A look of confusion came over Thorin's face. "I would never!" he protested as the other members of his Company stared at both of them. "The last time we saw her was in the forest!"

"She was the Elf in the throne room, you idiot!" Bilbo yelled. "You're so full of yourself that you don't stop to notice the details! Her clothes? Her sword? You gave her the sword, you brickhead, and you didn't even recognize it!"

Thorin's face paled as he realized what he had done. He sat down and put his head in his hand that wasn't pinching his nose. "I thought she looked familiar," he muttered. "I thought she looked familiar and I didn't even stop to think why." He felt a wave of guilt and self- hatred.

Balin leaned forward. "What's she doing here?" he asked. "She had a chance to get out of the forest for good, to get to Lake- town. Why didn't she?"

"She wanted to rescue you guys, of course," Bilbo answered. "And what's the point of going to Lake- town if not to get to Erebor? And what's the point of going to Erebor if she's the only one?" He went on to tell them what she had told him just a few moments ago.

Thorin looked up after the hobbit was done. "Bilbo, I need you to apologize to her for me," he said. "Please. I didn't know it was her..." He took a deep breath. "If I knew it was her, I would never have said those things."

Bilbo frowned. "I know," he told the king. "But I'm not going to apologize for you. You're going to apologize for yourself when we get out of here." He distributed the food between all thirteen dwarves and left the dungeon without another word.


	17. Chapter 16

For the next few days, Bilbo stayed in Thruda's room. They traded off every night for sleeping in the bed, and they woke before the Elves to try to get a plan. Thruda had been spending a lot of time with Legolas and Tauriel and was trying to get some information out of both of them. Bilbo was exploring the castle for other ways out and getting food for the dwarves. But they didn't have anything useful.

"Ok, so, I found out today," Thruda announced as she entered her room and shut the door behind her, "that there are two entrances to the kingdom- the front doors and the river. Those are it. Legolas also told me that Elves only get drunk when they drink a lot of really strong brew, though I don't see how that matters. Thranduil also told me that in a few days, there's going to be a really big feast and a lot of people are invited." She took a deep breath. "And that means that there's going to be a lot of commotion, and nobody's going to be focusing on the prisoners. We can get them out then through the river."

Bilbo looked at her skeptically. "The river?" he repeated.

Thruda nodded. "The river," she agreed. "So it's up to you, my dear hobbit, to find the river exit and the armory and to get all the dwarves into the river onto the night of the feast. I'll start getting attached to the guards and lure them away. It's a good thing that the feast is in a few days so that I'll have time to become their friend."

"What about you?" Bilbo asked.

Thruda rolled her eyes. "I'm coming with you, of course," she told him. She tugged at her ear, which was still pointy. "It's going to be so weird to be short again."

He didn't reply but was quiet, staring out of the window. "Thorin misses you," he said.

Thruda tensed at Thorin's name. She still hadn't forgotten how he had called her a whore. Bilbo told her that he felt guilty about it, but that didn't excuse the fact that Thorin was a jerk to call a complete stranger a prostitute just because she was an Elf.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Bilbo slipped his ring on as Thruda opened the door. She saw Legolas with a broad smile on his face. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion when she saw that he was in the outfit that he wore when he sparred.

"What are you planning on having me do today?" she asked worriedly.

Legolas laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room. Thruda threw a glance back at the seemingly empty room, but Bilbo was invisible, so she didn't know where he was. "Relax, Calene," Legolas said. "We're just doing some sparring."

Thruda's eyes widened. "Sparring?" she squeaked. "Like, sword sparring?"

"I thought you told my father and I that you were an expert swordswoman," Legolas told her, pulling her ahead faster. If Thruda was still a dwarf, she would be sprinting to keep up with Legolas because of his longer strides.

She hurried up to keep up with him. "I am!" she exclaimed.

"Then why are you scared?" Legolas asked. "Do you think I'm going to beat you?"

Thruda rolled her eyes. "In your dreams," she told him.

Legolas grinned at her. "Then you wouldn't mind showing me your marvelous skills, o great-and-mighty Princess Calene of the Continent of Veldar," he teased.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're on, Greenleaf," she said.

Legolas brought her to the same courtyard that he had been fighting with Tauriel on the first day Thruda had arrived at the castle. He tossed her a sword, which she grabbed and unsheathed. It was a beautiful Elven blade, and she recognized it; Orcrist, Thorin's sword.

Thruda's eyes filled with tears at the sight of it. She remembered all the times that that sword had protected her, and all the times that she had protected its owner. Then Thorin's harsh words in the throne room came back to her, and she passed the sword back to Legolas.

"I won't fight with this sword," she told him. "It was taken from a prisoner, and there's no honor in fighting with a sword I didn't win."

Legolas's eyebrows shot up. "How did you know that this sword was taken from prisoner?" he asked. Thruda mentally cursed.

"There are many things that an Elf of Veldar can figure out," Thruda answered. "Please give me another sword, or I can go back to my room and grab my own."

The prince nodded and took the sword back. "Get another sword for Princess Calene," Legolas ordered a nearby guard. Another sword was given to Thruda, and they started to fight.

Legolas lunged forward, but Calene blocked his strike. He slashed out again, pushing her backwards and closer to the castle. As he was about to slash out at her again, she locked swords with him and forced him into where she had just been so that he was closer to the castle.  
Calene kept pushing him backwards. Because Legolas hadn't been able to regain the ground he lost, they were soon inside the castle. Even though Legolas knew he was loosing, he kept fighting even as they started moving down the stairs, putting him on the lower ground. Calene kept moving him backwards until he managed to lock swords with her again and switch positions. Now he was the one pushing her backwards.  
Soon, they were by the doors to the dungeons. Legolas blocked a particularly vicious strike from Calene as they entered one of the holding areas. He felt thirteen prisoner's eyes on him, but he didn't pay attention to them. Calene tried to disarm him, but he kept a firm grip on his sword and spun, about to stop his sword in front of her throat, where it would have landed. However, Calene had tripped him, causing him to fall forward as he spun. Unfortunately, he also fell on top of her, and both of them fell to the floor, Legolas on top.

Thruda's eyes widened as Legolas fell on top of her. She had never been this close to the prince before; their lips were almost touching! Legolas seemed to realize it, as well. However, he didn't turn tomato red like she did.

"Your blush is cute," he told her.

Her face turned even redder. "Legolas..." she muttered.

"I thought that you would just be another one of those girls that my father managed to find for me," he whispered. Thruda was painfully aware of Thorin and the rest of the dwarves staring at her with their jaws on the ground. "The airhead type, the ones who did what their father told him and nothing else. Or the ones that were so desperate for a husband that I could hardly pry their hands off of me. But you're different, Calene. You can fight. You have a sense of humor." Legolas let out a low chuckle. "You _think_."

Thruda laughed, even though she couldn't help but feel a little awkward. Legolas was nice, but she didn't really like him...

Then she remembered how close she and the prince had gotten during the few days they had known each other. It had flowed effortlessly, almost like Thorin and her had been back at Erebor. But it was a different type of flow. She couldn't place her finger on it, but Legolas was more... careless than Thorin. While Thorin had always felt like an anchor, Legolas felt like a partner. She didn't know which one she wanted.

"So, I think I'm saying," Legolas said, "is that I don't oppose to our probable marriage." And he leaned forward to kiss her.

At first, she tensed up in surprise, but then she relaxed. This was Legolas; they were friends, and she cared about him... in some way. She wasn't sure how yet, but he was important to her.

So she let her lips move with his.

Thorin stared, not even bothering to be polite. If Bilbo was right, that Elf was Thruda. And _Thruda_ was kissing an _Elf_? He couldn't believe it. For one thing, she was his. He had shown her love (well, he tried to, but she hadn't made it easy because she started shouting at him the second he was within a five-foot radius of her) and clearly proved to her that he was still interested. Then, it was an _Elf_. What dwarf in their right mind would kiss an _Elf_? And Thruda had been mad at him for kissing Susan? This was the _Elf prince of Mirkwood_. And he was an Elf!

Anger flowed through his veins, and he threw the nearest thing at the walls of his cell. That got both the Elf's and Thruda's attention. "If you don't mind," he drawled, "could you move this outside? I, for one, am not interested in the love affairs of Elves."

The Elf looked murderous, but Thruda looked like she was considering something. She kept glancing from him to the Elf as the Elf helped her up off the ground.

"I'll be out in a second, Legolas," Thruda said. "Go ahead." So it was Legolas now? A dwarf on first name terms with an Elf?

When the door closed behind Legolas, Thruda turned to Thorin. "Learn how to shut your trap, Thorin!" she shouted. "Don't you understand? If I get him wrapped around my finger, it'll be easier to get you out of here! But no, you had to go interrupting just because _he's a godforsaken Elf_! If you just think ahead, then you'd realize what I'm trying to do here! What I'm trying to do for you!" She glanced at the door, knowing that she hadn't told Thorin her true feelings about the Elf prince and not wanting to. "I need to go now. Legolas will be getting worried." Without giving Thorin a chance to reply, Thruda stormed out of the room.

Legolas picked up on her irritation the second she left the room. He had been waiting with the guards a few feet away from the door. "What happened?" he asked.

"The stupidity of dwarves," she snapped, walking forward, aggravated. She was aware that she was acting like an Elf, but she was so mad at Thorin that she couldn't help but be in a bad mood.

As well as that, she had feelings for two different guys; Thorin and Legolas. Thorin was proud and a little arrogant, but he always kept her guessing. He also had an air of leadership around him that drew others towards him. Legolas was kind and patient. He was somewhat predictable, but he also had a great sense of humor and was always someone she could lean on.

"Calene, maybe you should go rest in your room before the feast tonight," Legolas suggested.

Thruda glared at him. "I don't need to rest," she said angrily, but then she froze, causing Legolas to run into her. "The feast is tonight?" Legolas nodded. "Crap. I thought that it was later in the week. Well, if that's the case, I need to get ready. See you, Legolas." Thruda ran up the stairs to her room. She flung the door open, and, after realizing that Bilbo wasn't there, she left the door open.

If the feast was moved to tonight, she and Bilbo would have to revise their plans. There was no way that she would be able to get friendly with the Elven guards so quickly. She would have to lead them out herself... using her influence as Legolas's future bride.

Grimacing at the thought, she looked at her wardrobe. She had to find something suitable to wear, but she had adamantly refused dresses in her wardrobe. Now, she regretted that decision.

"Princess Calene?" a timid voice asked from the doorway. Thruda looked up to see a young Elf maiden holding a white dress. "King Thranduil wishes for you to wear this to the feast tonight."

Thruda smiled. "Thank you," she said as she took the dress. The girl left, and Thruda looked at the dress.

It was gorgeous. Everything besides the sleeves and collar were white. There was white lace in a flower design covering the white fabric. The sleeves and collar looked like it was made out of leather and extended so that there were gloves connected to it made of the same material. Thruda grimaced; she hated gloves. The collar was connected to the sleeves and was high, almost like a vampire collar. Thruda could hardly picture herself in this dress, but then she noticed something else; the chest area was particularly bare. The neck swooped down so low that her face turned red just thinking about it. She would need a necklace to cover her chest, and the only one she had was her wizard's staff. However, it didn't match the dress at all.

Bilbo came into the room, closing the door behind him before taking off his ring. "What?" he asked. "I was passing by and saw your door open. Did you need something?" Then he noticed the dress. "What's that for? Are you telling me you're seriously going to wear a dress?"

Thruda grimaced. "I have to wear it tonight," she told him. "They moved the feast to tonight. Please tell me you found the river exit and the armory."

The hobbit gaped. "Tonight?" he demanded.

She nodded. "So, did you find the river exit and the armory?" she repeated.

He nodded. "They're right next to each other," he answered.

Thruda nodded. "Okay. So I'll get the guards drunk. There's going to be some pretty strong brew for the feast, so I doubt they need much urging to drink it. Once they're knocked out, I'll steal the keys and leave them in my room, which you'll take when you need to. You'll get the dwarves out. I'll get the weapons out, too. If I catch up with you as you're getting out, I'll join up. If not, I'll find a way to leave the feast and steal a horse to get myself to Lake- town," she told him. "Sounds good?" Bilbo nodded again. "Now go, I need to get ready for this feast." She held up the dress distastefully again. "Actually, Bilbo? Would you mind asking the dwarves if they have any jewelry on them and if I could borrow it? Cause I really don't want to have such a bare chest. _Plead_ if you have to."

"Sure," Bilbo agreed, and he ran out of her room. Thruda decided to pick out her shoes, hairstyle, and makeup before Bilbo came so he didn't catch her naked. She would also have to bathe; she had worked up a sweat fighting with Legolas.

Once she had decided on black high heels, a loose braid that left her bangs and a few shorter strands out to frame her face, and some black eye shadow, she heard a knock on her door. After making sure that it was Bilbo, she opened the door. "Did you get some jewelry?" she asked.

He nodded and took out a gorgeous choker necklace. The necklace was black and was made of the same material as her sleeves, and there was a giant golden pendant in the middle.

"This is beautiful, Bilbo, but the gold really doesn't match anything on my outfit," she told him, looking at the necklace closely. She wasn't sure which dwarf had given this to her.

Bilbo grinned sheepishly. "That's why I also got this," he said, pulling out golden bracelets.

Thruda gasped. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she squealed, taking the bracelets and slipping them on. The second she did, a band of gold extended from the bracelet and wrapped itself around her arms and stopped slightly above her elbow. "Wow," she muttered. "This is gorgeous." She turned to Bilbo. "Who had these?" Bilbo shifted his weight and muttered some stuff under his breath that Thruda couldn't catch, even with her Elvish hearing. "Let me guess. Thorin." Bilbo nodded, and Thruda rolled her eyes. "Tell him thanks for me. Now shoo, I need to get ready!"

Two hours later, Thruda was ready for the feast. She could have gone down to the feast any time she wanted, but she was waiting for Bilbo. She needed to distract the guards of the armory so that she could give the dwarves their weapons. She had already succeeded in getting the keys, but Bilbo hadn't come back yet to take them. Anxious, she started pacing and almost tripped as her high heels stepped on the hem of her dress. Thruda let out a curse, and after making sure that the dress hadn't been ripped, went back to pacing.

"Thruda?" Bilbo asked, causing her to turn around. He was standing in the doorway. "Why aren't you at the feast?"

"Change of plans," she answered. "Come on." She passed him the keys and strode out of the room, her head held high. She was Princess Calene of Veldar, and she would make sure that she got her way.

They passed the dungeons. "Go get them out," Thruda ordered to Bilbo. The guards, like she had promised, were passed out in the wine cellar. Bilbo hurried inside, and soon thirteen dwarves were walking out of the dungeon. "Hello," Thruda said curtly, pointedly not looking at Thorin. "Let's go."

Thruda walked ahead confidently, her Elvish grace showing in each step. Thorin felt himself watching and marveling at her beauty. Not that she hadn't been pretty as a dwarf. But Elves, even though he hated to admit it, were known for their beauty and grace. Also, she was wearing a _dress_. The only times he had really seen her in a dress were at his grandfather's parties, and then she had looked like she was two seconds away from changing her dress for pants and a shirt. Now she looked extremely confident as she was, her dress swaying around her and flattering her figure... He shook himself out of it.

"Where are you two taking us?" Ori asked, looking around as they headed downstairs.

"Aye, aren't we supposed to be moving up and out of here, not down and deeper inside the castle?" Dwalin continued.

She didn't even turn around. "There's another exit down here. It's not commonly used," she told them. After a few minutes, Thruda knew that the armory and river exit (which Bilbo had found out was actually a cellar) were nearing. "Go on," she ordered. "I will get the weapons and meet you in the cellar." Without waiting for their consent, Thruda walked straight towards the guards standing by the armory. "Sirs!" she called. "I fear that I am in a bad situation. I put something important of mine that I need for the feast in my sword scabbard! May I have access to the armory to get it?"

One of the guards narrowed his eyes. "What lady besides the ones in the guard have swords of their own?" he asked.

Thruda's eyes narrowed. "I am Princess Calene of Veldar!" she cried out indignantly. The dwarves, who had been creeping by, marveled at her acting skills. "Of course I shall have my own sword!"

The guard's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said. "I did not recognize you. Of course you may enter the armory."

With a smirk, Thruda walked in. She saw the dwarves' weapons instantly and opened a door into Storage, shoving them in there. As an afterthought, she grabbed her own sword as well. "Did you find what you were looking for, Your Majesty?" the guard asked as she walked out.

"Yes, I did," she told him. "Thank you." And she proceeded to the cellar, where the dwarves were waiting, huddled together. "Here's the weapons," she said, opening her invisible door and pulling the weapons out. The dwarves grabbed their own happily. "I need to go now. Bilbo, get them out." The hobbit nodded and hurried the dwarves toward the nearby barrels. Once they realized what was happening, the dwarves started shouting loudly and protesting, and Thruda smiled as she left.

By the time she made it up to the feast, most people were already there. She saw Legolas out of the corner of her eye and headed over to him. He smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her waist, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Thruda gave him a smile and scooted closer to him. Thranduil, who was nearby, noticed their actions of affection towards each other and smiled. It seemed like he had finally found the one for his son.

Thruda and Legolas had just begun a debate about how many fingers to pull a bowstring back with when Tauriel came running into the room. "My Lord!" she cried. "Orcs are attacking!"

A/N: Just a reminder, this IS a Thorin x OC story. The small romance between her and Legolas is exactly that- small. It's more of a passing crush at this moment. And she's technically not cheating on Thorin because they were never together. So please don't stop reading.


	18. Chapter 17

Thranduil jumped to his feet. "Get the men ready!" he ordered. "Quickly!" Legolas and Thruda jumped up and followed Tauriel out of the room.

"Hey, Tauriel!" Thruda called out ahead of her.

Tauriel turned around. "What, Calene? I'm busy now," she snapped, stress apparent on her face.

"We're going to help," Thruda said. "C'mon, what do you need us to do?"

She looked at both of them. "Defend the river. I have a few men there already, but I doubt they'll hold against Azog," she ordered.

Thruda blanched. "Azog?" she demanded. Well, the Pale Orc had been right; she remembered his name now.

"The Pale Orc," Legolas explained, thinking that she didn't know who he was. "We'll see you later, Tauriel. C'mon, Calene."

Legolas and Thruda hurried out of the palace to the river. Legolas, who was leading, stopped when he saw the river. "Are those the dwarves in the barrels?" he asked, not believing his eyes.

"Yeah," Calene said. She whistled, and a horse came up to her. She jumped on and rode off, obviously anxious about either the Orcs or the dwarves. Legolas whistled, as well, and a horse ran up to him.

Thruda pulled her sword out of Storage and unsheathed it, its blade gleaming from the moonlight. Why had they decided to escape at night? She should have remembered that the Orcs were chasing them and wouldn't have stopped at Mirkwood. They had probably been waiting for the dwarves to leave. And she had given them right to Azog!

She saw the barrels stop and noticed that the gates were closed, blocking the barrels from moving downstream. The Elves were trying to stop them from escaping! Thruda cursed and urged her horse faster. She watched as Kili jumped out of his barrel and tried to reach the lever to open the gates. However, some Orcs were defending the lever, and Kili started fighting all of them. Thruda saw as an Orc about to shoot an arrow at Kili, who didn't even notice it.

"No!" she shouted, reaching out as if she could stop the arrow, and she felt red light burst from her hand and hit the Orc. There was a sudden explosion of brightness, and when it was gone, all the Orcs in a ten foot radius were dead, and the weapons were vaporized. Thruda looked at her hand in shock, wondering how she had been able to do that without meaning to. Kili moved quickly and opened the gates, allowing the barrels to move forward.

Legolas slowed his horse and watched as Calene used some type of magic to save one of the dwarves from being killed by an Orc's arrow. He wondered why she had done such a thing when she started riding in the same direction as the river, next to the dwarves. At first he thought that she was pursuing them, but then he saw her actually _defending_ the dwarves.

What was she doing?

"Calene!" he shouted. She turned and saw him. Her eyes flashed with guilt, but then she turned back to the fight. Legolas pulled out his bow and started shooting at the Orcs. He wasn't sure what to do about the Dwarves yet, but he had no indecision about killing Orcs.

Thruda, seeing an Orc get rather close to Thorin, sliced at him with her sword, chopping his head off. Thorin nodded to her in appreciation, but she ignored him and kept on riding, blocking the Elves' arrows with her magic and fighting off any Orcs that got close. Behind her, she saw Legolas killing the Orcs, as well. Thruda felt guilty as she saw Legolas shoot one. She hadn't expected to make friends in the Elf kingdom, or to get an Elf to fall for her. But it had happened, and now she was betraying them.

Soon, the dwarves and her were far away from the castle of Mirkwood. Legolas hadn't attempted to follow her, and apparently the Elves were keeping the Orcs so busy that the Orcs couldn't send anybody after her.

"You can get out of the barrels now," Thruda told them, straining her Elf eyesight to see back up to the castle. "Nobody's following us."

The dwarves jumped out and swam to shore. Bilbo, however, stayed in the barrel and looked at the water speculatively. Thruda then remembered that hobbits didn't like to swim. She jumped into the water, not worried about getting her dress wet, and pulled Bilbo to shore.

"I'm going to turn back into a dwarf. You guys can try to warm up or something," she said. She walked behind a tree and turned her staff back into a staff. With a deep breath, she said good-bye to her Elf body and focused on turning herself back into a dwarf.

After a little bit of muscle stretching, Thruda felt herself back at her original height. She sighed in relief and turned her staff into a mirror again. She looked the same as she had been when she was a dwarf, but staying as an Elf for so long must have certain consequences, because she still held her head high and moved with a grace about her. She quickly pulled some small Elven travelling clothes that she had stolen out of Storage and slipped them on, meanwhile putting the dress into Storage in its stead.

She headed back to the dwarves and turned to Thorin, holding out the necklace and bracelets. "Thanks for letting me borrow these," she said.

He nodded and took them back. "Thruda, I'm really sorry about what happened in the throne room on the first day that you came to Mirkwood," he apologized quietly. "I didn't know it was you."

She took a deep breath. "I don't think I was ever mad at you about that, Thorin," she told him honestly. "So there's nothing to apologize about, right?" She gave him a small smile and headed towards Fili and Kili.

After a few hours, they had made it to the borders of Lake-town. Thruda looked at the small wreck of a town on the lake. She remembered that it was also called Esgaroth and thought of the wealth that this town had once had before Erebor had been taken.

Thorin and Thruda stepped away from the rest of the dwarves and talked in hushed tones. "We can get help from the town," he said. "Maybe restock our supplies before we continue onto the Mountain."

"I don't know," Thruda replied. "What happens if they decide to chuck us into prison because they don't want us waking the dragon?

He glanced at Lake-town again. "We need to at least try," he told her. Then he sent smirk towards her. "Better waste arrows on hope than to save them for a time that will never come."

"Dwarves!" someone shouted from behind them. Thorin and Thruda turned around, hands on their weapons, and saw a man with a bow aiming an arrow at them. "What is your business here?"

Thorin spoke. "We were going to enter the town," he said.

The man scoffed. "You cannot enter the town unless the Master allows it," he told Thorin. "And I doubt that he approves of anything that doesn't include profit for himself."

Thruda laughed loudly. "Oh, this will include great profit," she said.

He gave her a long glance. "And who are you, a female dwarf without a beard in Elven clothes who travels with male dwarves?" he asked.

"That's a story to be told at a warm hearth," she told him. "But I am the favored of a certain Prince Legolas. I'm sure that he would be happy if you supported your town's alliance with his kingdom by taking us in." She worded her words carefully, knowing that one misstep would end up in them being killed by the bowman.

The bowman shook his head. "I meant, what is your name," he said.

She smiled. "Thruda," she replied. "And yours?"

"Bard," he answered. He glanced at the town. "I will help you in."

In a few minutes, all the dwarves were back in barrels and were being rowed to Lake-town in Bard's boat. However, to make sure that nobody saw the people in the barrels, Bard had dumped fish into the barrel with them. Thruda's barrel was close to Bard, so she was able to talk to him.

"Why are you helping us?" she asked. "We didn't even have to offer a price, but you're here anyway."

She watched Bard out of a hole in her barrow and saw him turn red. "You remind me of my wife," he answered. "Your courage and bluntness... Those are some of the qualities that I see in you that she had."

Thruda smiled. "I would be glad if I was to meet her," she told Bard. "She sounds like someone I would like to call a friend."

Bard frowned. "I have a feeling that she would approve of you," he told her. "But she died."

"Oh," Thruda said. "I'm sorry." She hoped that Bard wouldn't start falling in love with her because she was like his wife. Her love life was messed up enough.

He laughed, guessing what she was thinking. "Don't worry, Thruda," he reassured her. "When she died, I knew that I would never love another."

Thruda nodded, even though she knew that Bard wouldn't be able to see her. "Hopefully you're wrong," she said. "I'm sure another girl is out there somewhere."

Soon they were close to the town, and Bard slowed the boat. "Be quiet," he told all of them. "The guards must not know that you're here." Thruda watched as Bard talked with the guards. It seemed as if he would be able to get them past when another man came out. He took some papers from Bard's hands and read them. For a second, it looked like they were going to toss the barrels into the water, but Bard was able to do some smooth talking and get them all past.

"Go now, before anybody sees you," Bard ordered when he had moved out of eyesight of the guards. "Hopefully you will not be in jail the next time I see you."

Thruda smiled. "Thank you," she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thorin leaning towards a shiny object in the window of one of the nearby shops. "Thorin!" She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"I was just seeing if it was of Dwarvish make," he muttered.

Bard's eyes narrowed as he heard the grumpy looking dwarf's name. Where had he heard that name before? He shook his head and put it in the corner of his mind to think about later.

She smiled at Bard as the other dwarves headed off. "Thanks," she said. "I'll see you around, I guess."

"Would you mind telling me what you plan to do in Lake- town?" Bard asked. His eyes were earnest and curious.

Thruda instantly felt bad for using Bard to get into his town.

"I doubt that I'm allowed to," she said. "But I will tell you this- it has something to do with recovering treasure." And she turned around, hurrying after the other dwarves.

Thorin instantly stood beside her. "What did he want to talk to you about?" he asked.

"What we're doing here," she answered.

"Did you tell him anything?"

She hesitated. "No," she told him. Then she glanced at the buildings of the town. "So what's the plan?"

He looked around as well. "I was planning on asking you that," he said. "But I think that we should talk to the Master and get supplies."

Thruda frowned. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea," she disagreed. "Bard said that he's a really greedy guy. He'd try to get some of the gold from us."

Now that she was near the Mountain, something caused Thruda to turn her mind more towards what she was going to do with her share of the gold. She would probably donate it or use it on charity; she didn't want to get gold sickness like King Thror. The thought made her frown- would Thorin get gold sickness? She had heard that it was common in dwarf leaders, especially the sons of Durin...

At first, Thruda had planned on leaving the Mountain the second she got her gold. But now that she had become closer with all of the dwarves and was even friends with Thorin, she felt like she had a responsibility to stay. Maybe because she had become used to leading with Thorin, but she doubted that she would stay in that position once Thorin became King Under the Mountain and picked advisers better than her. But now that she was close to Thorin again, did she really want to just leave him with the burden of leadership? She was the only one he really relaxed around, the only one that he would split the burden of leading with. Was she really that cold hearted to leave him in what would probably be one of the most hectic times of his life?

"Fili, Kili, Ori, go find an inn," Thorin ordered, bringing her back to the present. The twins and Ori left, and Thorin sat on a nearby bench. Thruda sat beside him and watched as the other dwarves hung around, some in conversation, some with eyes on the Mountain, and some were just sitting in silence.

Thruda looked at Thorin. He was one of those staring at the Mountain, a wistful expression on his face. She knew that he was probably thinking of the past. Thruda wasn't; she hadn't ever really thought about Erebor during the one hundred and eighty years or during the journey. She didn't know why, but she had never missed the kingdom. Maybe it was because she felt the expectations of society too keenly in Erebor (her father had been a general, after all), but ever since she had started wandering on her own, she had felt... free.

"Do you miss it?" she asked Thorin. "The mountain, I mean."

Thorin looked up at the mountain again. "I do," he answered. "But there are some things I have missed more than Erebor." He turned to look at her, and she turned red. "Did you actually love the Elf prince?"

"No," she told him immediately. "At least, I don't think I do." She took a deep breath. "I know that Legolas is a friend and that I care for him deeply. I'm just not sure how I care for him. Some of my relationships, however, are much more complicated." She nodded her head to him to show him what relationship she was talking about. "I still don't know what I feel about you."

He nodded and looked back at the Mountain. "I know how I feel about you," she heard him mutter. She wondered if some of her Elven hearing had stayed, as well as her grace. Thorin wouldn't have said it so that she could hear it, especially since he had just gotten her friendship and wouldn't want to risk it by trying to push it down a path that she possibly didn't want.

"Uncle!" Fili and Kili shouted together, causing Thorin and Thruda to look up at them at the same time. "We're sorry!"

Thorin stood. "What happened?" he demanded. Thruda stood as well.

"We got caught by the Master," Fili started.

"And they want us in his house," Kili continued.

"Now," they finished together.

Thorin and Thruda frowned at each other, mentally weighing the risks. "Did you tell them how many we number?" Thorin inquired. They shook their heads. "Our weapons?" They shook their heads as well. "Well, what did you tell them?"

"That you were our leader and that there was a Company of dwarves and a hobbit here," Fili said.

Thruda stepped closer. "Wait, where's Ori?" she asked. They both turned red and looked away. Thruda cursed loudly and kicked the bench that she and Thorin had been sitting on before. "You let him capture Ori?"

"It's not our fault!" Fili protested. "They got all of us and only let us go to get you guys!"

She took a deep breath. "Well, that settles it," she said, calmer. "We need to see the Master."

So that was how the Company of Thorin Oakenshield entered the house of the Master of Lake- town.

Guards took their weapons at the door. It took a few minutes to get that one done with, especially because the Dwarves had small weapons hidden everywhere, including their beards. Thruda passed them her sword, but she had kept her staff and passed it off as a bracelet. Then the doors to the house opened for them.

The second she entered the room, she felt the eyes of the people in attendance on her. Maybe because she was a girl? Or because she was a Dwarf with Elvish grace? She stayed by Thorin's side, not liking how she seemed to be the center of the men's gazes.

"I have heard that the famous Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain, has returned," a nasally voice announced. Thruda turned to see an especially fat man looking as if he was waiting for an answer. He must have been the one who asked the question. Thruda instantly disliked him, and she could tell from Thorin's tense stance that he didn't, either. She nudged Thorin with her shoulder, reminding him that she was with him.

Thorin seemed to gather his courage, and he faced the Master with cold eyes. "And what does it matter?" he demanded sharply.

"It has been brought to my attention that you plan to take the Mountain," the Master said.

"Like he said, what does it matter?" Thruda snapped angrily. It was obvious that what Bard said about the Master was true, so if the Master sprouted any bull crap about being concerned for the people, Thruda would jump up there and strangle him.

The Master turned to her, his greedy eyes trailing down her figure. He reminded her a bit of the Goblin King in that way. Thorin tensed and adjusted his stance so that he was slightly in front of her, protecting her. "And who is this?" he asked.

"A member of my Company," Thorin answered tensely. "And, in the matter of my Company, I believe you have someone of mine."

The Master waved his hands at his guards, and Ori was tossed towards the group. Thruda grabbed him to prevent him from falling to the ground.

"She is a female," The Master stated, stubbornly not moving off the topic of Thruda.

Thruda glared. "Well, I'd hope so," she snapped. "I mean, I think it'd be obvious and a tad bit strange if I _wasn't_ female." Thorin snorted in amusement.

"Yet she is still a member of my Company," Thorin said.

The Master turned his eyes away from Thruda and looked at Thorin. "Back to business matters," he told them. "Give me one reason not to imprison you on the spot for going to the Mountain and possibly waking the dragon."

Thorin's chin jutted out defiantly, and he turned to the people, addressing everyone. "Before Smaug took Erebor, Esgaroth was the center of trade! You were a wealthy town, not a pile of wooden boards in the middle of a lake masquerading at the town! I can return this forsaken town to its former glory!" The people let out a cheer, and Thorin turned to The Master, fire in his eyes. "I think that that is reason enough to let us enter the Mountain!"

The doors suddenly banged open, and everyone turned to see Bard. "They will bring destruction to Lake-town!" he shouted. "Do you not remember what happened to Dale? To my ancestor? History will be repeated! Do not let them go to the Mountain if they waken the dragon!"

"Well, we don't _plan_ to waken the dragon," Thruda told him, rolling her eyes. "That would just make our task harder. We _plan_ to kill him when he's asleep."

Bard ignored her. "We must not let them enter Erebor!" he continued protesting.

The Master ignored him and talked over the poor bowman. "You are welcome in Lake- Town, Company of Thorin Oakenshield!" he shouted. The dwarves and Bilbo bowed, even though Thruda didn't want to.

After a few more minutes of painful pleasantries (for Thruda, at least), the dwarves were in an inn that had been vacated specially for them. Thruda pushed open the doors to her room (she wasn't sharing with anybody this time because Gandalf wasn't there to try to get her and Thorin together) and collapsed on her bed, half dead from exhaustion. It had been an eventful day, and she could hardly believe that only earlier in the day she had been sparring with Legolas.

Legolas... What did she feel about the Elf? Whenever she thought of him, her mind turned to Thorin with a guilty feeling. Why? She and Thorin were friends. Just friends. She didn't _like_ him any more... at least, not in that way. They were friends. Friends. Just friends.  
So why did she keep having to try to convince herself of the fact?

Thruda shook her head to clear it. He had cheated on her before, and there was nothing to stop him from doing so again...

...besides the fact that she was playing hard to get without meaning to.

Before she could think more about that, Fili and Kili burst into the room, eyes wide with excitement. They slammed the door behind them and locked it, causing Thruda to sit up in her bed warily. "What did you do?" she asked instantly.

"Nothing!" Fili exclaimed.

"What would make you think that?" Kili asked. Thruda raised an eyebrow. "Ok, well, we didn't _do_ anything. We just wanted to ask you a question.

She groaned. "Like what?" she said, laying back down in bed.

"Do you like Uncle?" they demanded in synch.

Thruda sat up so quickly that she banged her head on the head of the bed. "What?!" she spat. "Do I like Thorin?!"

"Well, do you?" Kili pressed.

She glared, rubbing her head where she had hit her head. "Why should I tell you?" she challenged.

They grinned widely at each other. "You like him!" they exclaimed together.

"No I don't!" Thruda protested.

"Yeah!"

"No!"

"Yeah!"

"No!"

"Yeah!"

Before Thruda could reply and continue their argument, there was a loud knock on her door. "Thruda? What's going on in there?" Thorin asked. The three dwarves inside the room shared a look and started cracking up. "Thruda?"

"Nothing!" Thruda choked out, still laughing. "Nothing! Go back and hang out with Balin!"

The doorknob jiggled, and Thruda could tell that Thorin was trying to get in. "Are you sure everything's alright in there?"

"Yeah!" Thruda told him. "We're fine!"

Thorin hesitated. "Then why won't you let me in?" he asked.

"Because," she said. After a while, there were sounds of Thorin walking down the stairs to the central room. Then, when they were sure that the three of them were alone, Thruda, Fili, and Kili burst out laughing.

Once a few minutes passed, Fili drew a straight face. "So you do like him?" he asked.

Thruda glared at him. "Shut up," she said, causing the twins to start laughing again. She rolled her eyes at them. "Get out," she told them jokingly, and they left the room, still laughing.


	19. Chapter 18

"We thank you for your help," Thorin told the Master the next morning. "I will see to it that you are grandly rewarded."  
Thruda grimaced. " _I_ certainly don't thank him for his help," she muttered to Bilbo, who chuckled under his breath. "What? I don't!"

The Master didn't hear her, which was lucky, considering that they were still in Lake-town. Thruda started daydreaming as Thorin and the Master talked, each saying how wonderful it had been to meet each other, blah, blah, blah, skip that, skip this...

She couldn't have been more relieved when Thorin finally stepped into the boat. Thruda scrambled in after him, almost tipping the boat over in her haste to get in. Thorin caught her before she fell. "Are you okay?" he asked, his concerned eyes focused on her.

Thruda gulped, suddenly aware of the small amount of space between them. "Yeah," she answered. "I just tripped."

Fili and Kili burst out laughing at that. "Yeah," Fili said as he walked past her onto the boat.

"You 'just tripped,'" Kili continued, rolling his eyes. Thruda stuck her foot out, causing Fili to trip on it. Kili, who was behind Fili, fell over Fili.

Thruda started laughing. "Aw, you guys _just_ _tripped_ ," she teased.

After a few more minutes, the dwarves had Lake- town to their backs and were crossing the lake towards the Lonely Mountain. They weren't close enough to see Erebor, but Thruda felt her heart and mind being pulled towards the Mountain and its wealth. She remembered the wealth displayed in the halls of the castle and the large treasure chamber. She couldn't wait to reclaim the kingdom- for the good of dwarven-kind and for Thorin.

"Do you remember the castle?" Thorin asked her, his tone wistful. "Do you remember its wealth? We had everything that we wanted there. It was peaceful then. A different kind of peace than we had in the Blue Mountains. In Erebor, we had a sense of-"

"-belonging," Thruda said. "Of home." She smiled gently at him. "Of course I remember, Thorin. Why would I ever forget?"

Her question had been meant as a rhetorical one, but Thorin either didn't realize or didn't care. "You seem so... in love with the wandering lifestyle," he told her. "Of not belonging anywhere and having the freedom to come and go. I didn't think that you would want to settle down in Erebor once we've reclaimed it."

Thruda sighed, recognizing the truth in his words. "It's true," she agreed. "I like having the freedom to come and go, of not answering to anyone..." She took a deep breath. "But, as much as I try to hide it, Erebor is my home. It always has been."

"Then I will make it so that Erebor is worthy of you," he said, causing her to turn red. "Thruda, after this is over, I plan to make you and the other members of this Company nobles. You will answer to no one then. You will have all the freedom you want." He smiled sadly. "I hope that that will make you happy, Thruda." Then he turned and walked towards Balin and Dwalin, leaving her dumbfounded.

A few hours later, they were hiking up the Mountain. Thruda was beside Thorin, and they were having a pleasant conversation for once. The rest of the Company's jaws were on the ground; Thruda was treating Thorin like a friend, and they were actually having a conversation without Thruda jumping at Thorin's throat or about leadership and things like that. Their relationship was definitely improving.

"She likes him," Kili hissed to Bilbo and Fili, keeping a cautious eye on Thruda's back to make sure that she didn't hear them. "I wonder how long it'll be until they get together."

Fili scoffed. "Did you hear her yesterday or not?" he demanded. "She doesn't know what she feels about him." Bilbo opened his mouth to agree with Fili, but then he remembered in Mirkwood (the woods, not the castle), when she had asked him if he had ever been in love. Maybe she was starting to fall for the dwarf king again.

Thruda suddenly let out a laugh, and Thorin smiled broadly. Bilbo knew that Thorin acted differently around Thruda; he was more relaxed. Well, he was now that she wasn't trying to kill him. In half an hour with her, Thorin smiled more than Bilbo had ever seen him throughout the long journey. He laughed. He opened up.

"I think that she cares more for him than she realizes," Bilbo said slowly. "I'm just not sure how much she cares for him."

That piece of wisdom had the dwarf twins staring at him with slack jaws. Then, in synch, their mouths curled into smirks, and a mischievous look entered their eyes.

"We're going to get them together," Fili and Kili declared.

After a few more hours and a lot of hiking, Thorin declared a rest. Thruda glanced around at the area uneasily, feeling darkness close by. She assumed it must be her wizard senses warning her of danger. Maybe that was how Gandalf always seemed to be aware of what was going on before it ever did.

Thruda was about to say something to Thorin when suddenly Fili and Kili, who had been scouting ahead, came running up. "We found it," Fili panted.

"The Desolation," Kili said.

Instantly, the dwarves were on their feet and following Fili and Kili back to where the twins had come from. A bewildered Bilbo followed them. Thruda was in the front with Thorin, heading to a place that she hadn't seen for years; the Desolation of the Dragon.

Fili and Kili stopped, causing the others to slow, too. They were in a bare area; there was only exposed rock, not a single bush or tree in sight.

"Let's find Dale," Thruda suggested, feeling uneasy in this place which was marked by dragon fire. She assumed that the Desolation of the Dragon was what had been sending out the bad vibes from before. "I want to look upon the city again."

"Me, too," Balin agreed. "Let's spread out."

So that was how Thruda and Thorin ended up climbing over rocks together, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of Dale. Thruda remembered roughly where it was and tried moving in that direction. However, some of her old landmarks, like a giant tree, was gone, making it harder for her to find Dale.

Eventually, they climbed over an especially large piece of rock, and the next thing they knew, they were looking at Dale, a city that had once been rich but was now in ruin. In her minds eye, Thruda saw the grand city as it had been before Smaug came, full of riches and life. She saw the tall towers, the children running through the streets, the marketers selling their items...

But now it was a glorified pile of rubble.

"Time has changed the city," Thruda muttered, a sudden sadness filling her heart. She turned to see Thorin's eyes fill with sadness, and she took his hand. He gave her a small smile. "Let's see if we remember where things were."

A few minutes later, they were walking down the old streets, hand in hand, and pointing out certain shops and trading posts that they remembered. Seeing the destroyed human kingdom made Thruda want take revenge on the dragon for destroying such a beautiful city that was filled with joy. Her eyes hardened, and she turned towards Erebor with a determined expression.

"We will take the Mountain back, Thruda," Thorin said, guessing what she was thinking. "We will restore this city and Erebor to its former wealth. People will live on this mountain once more."

Thruda smiled at him, turning from the Mountain. "I know," she told him. "I know."

And there they stood in silence, staring at each other, as the other dwarves came into the city. "I remember this place!" Gloin shouted, causing Thorin and Thruda to jump away from each other, faces red. Fili and Kili elbowed Gloin at the same time, causing him to yelp. "Sorry!" he exclaimed.

Thorin shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "Let us go back to our path towards Erebor."

A few days later, Thruda pulled herself up on the last ledge, panting and out of breath. Thorin helped her up, and she noticed something in his eyes. Some new drive, some new strength. "What is it?" she asked.

He smiled victoriously. "We've found it," he told her. "We found the door." Thruda smiled back, and Thorin showed her the blank wall of stone where the dwarf door was hidden. "Now all we need to do is to get in."

Thruda's victory ebbed somewhat at that. She didn't even know if it was past Durin's Day or not, or if Durin's Day was still ahead of them. But she knew that Thorin would find a way to get the door open; he was stubborn and wouldn't give up. He wouldn't stop until he had reached the unreachable, succeeded at the impossible.

She realized then that getting the door open was like winning her heart; hard, but not impossible.

"Bless me, we made it!" Bofur exclaimed once he had climbed up onto the ledge. "Now we need to get the door open!" He ran forward with his ax drawn.

Thruda instantly got a bad feeling. "No, Bofur!" she shouted, but the dwarf ignored her. His ax came into contact with the wall, and the ax instantly shattered, shards flying everywhere. Thruda's magic acted up and created a red shield of energy around the dwarves, keeping them safe from the shards. She dropped it as soon as all the shards were on the ground. "Dwarf doors aren't destroyable. The only way in is with the door. That means that we need to find the keyhole."

Thorin reached into his pocket and withdrew the old, battered key. It certainly looked more beaten up than when they had left the Shire, but Thruda hadn't expected less; they had been through a lot during the journey. A lot more than should have been asked of them, considering that they still needed to fight the dragon before they got the castle.

"Find the keyhole," Thorin said. "All of you." Even he headed towards the wall, and all fifteen of them started feeling around the wall, trying to find it. Thruda's hand never left Thorin's.

After a few hours, the dwarves were sitting in a circle by the wall. They still hadn't found the keyhole, and Thruda's head was spinning from trying to find it. It didn't help that a thrush had flown up about half an hour ago and was chirping insistently at them.

Thrush... a thrush...

"Thrush!" Thruda shouted, jumping up as she made the connection. She had interrupted Balin, who was telling them an in-depth plan about how to figure out whether or not it was Durin's Day, which would probably fail. "A thrush! 'Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light on Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole!' It's Durin's Day!"

Thorin looked at the sun. "'And the setting sun with the last light on Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole..." he muttered. "It's not sunset yet! We need to wait longer!"

Everyone started grumbling about having to wait, but nobody outright protested at the thought. They were so close to their goal, to the castle, to killing the dragon. A few more hours wouldn't harm anyone.

Thruda leaned on Thorin as all the dwarves waited in silence for it to be sunset. Thorin instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Fili and Kili shared a look at that, and they grinned identical evil grins. Thruda rolled her eyes at them, knowing full well what they were thinking.

Finally, it was sunset. Thorin rose immediately and tightened his hold on the key. He walked up to the door, but no keyhole appeared. The dwarves held their breaths, waiting, but nothing happened.

Thruda glanced at the light. The sun was rapidly setting, but no keyhole had appeared. "The sun's setting, guys," she warned. "It's now or never."

Thorin turned to her desperately. "Can you use your powers to open the door?" he asked. She shrugged. "Try it!"

She took a deep breath, not really wanting to, but she knew how important this was to Thorin. She drew her staff and touched the wall with it, willing it to open. For a second, it seemed like the stone would bend to her will, but then nothing happened. Thruda desperately pushed harder, but the stone refused to move.

Eventually the stone seemed to have had enough. It pushed back, and Thruda, not expecting the sudden movement, was thrown backwards. She would have fallen off the ledge if Thorin hadn't reached out and caught her.

"Did it work?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I couldn't do it."

He frowned. "It's okay," he told her, but she could tell that he was disappointed. "You did your best." Then, suddenly, he saw something shimmer out of the corner of his eye. Thruda did, too, and they both turned to the wall and saw...

"The keyhole," Thruda breathed. It was only a hole in the rock, but it was shaped exactly like the key in Thorin's hand. She grinned. "It was a test of our wills! It opened at the last possible moment of sunset!"

Thorin took a deep breath and put the key in the keyhole. After hesitating for a second, he turned the key in the lock. There was a clicking sound, and Thruda could now clearly see the outline of the door. Thorin put his hands in the middle of the door, and after squaring his shoulders, pushed hard. The door opened slightly, and Thorin opened the door the rest of the way.

"This is it," he said, staring into the doorway. "This is the way to Erebor."

Thruda smiled and stepped beside him, taking his hand. "We made it," she agreed. "We made it to the Mountain." She smirked at him. "Despite the Elves."

Thorin smiled back. "Despite the Elves," he admitted. "Even though I did say that they would imprison us."

"You said that the Rivendell Elves would imprison us, which never happened," Thruda reminded him. "It was the Mirkwood Elves who got us."

He rolled his eyes. "Same difference," he told her, and Thruda knew that he had run out of arguments.

"What are we waiting for?" Dwalin asked. "Let's get in!"

Dwalin was about to run through the door, but Thorin stuck his arm out, blocking him. "No," he said. "The dragon knows the scent of dwarf. That is part of the reason why we brought a burglar." Thorin turned to Bilbo. "It is time for you do what you came with us to do, Master Baggins. Good luck."

He pushed Bilbo forward, but the hobbit stubbornly kept both feet out of the door. "What am I looking for?" he asked. "What if the dragon's awake?"

"99.9% sure that he's not," Thruda said. "But just try to be sneaky. And as for what you should steal... it doesn't matter. Something. Anything. Just something that came from the treasure chamber will be enough for now."

Thorin contradicted her. "But the Arkenstone would be preferable," he told him. Thruda frowned; she knew that that gem was the cause of King Thror's gold sickness. "It is a white, glowing gem. If you have any doubt that it is the Arkenstone, that gem probably isn't it. You'll know it when you see it." He shoved Bilbo forward again. "Now go!"

"Good luck!" Thruda shouted after him as the retreating form of the hobbit grew smaller and smaller. Thruda turned to Thorin, concerned. "Will he be okay?"

Thorin shrugged. "I can't answer that," he replied. "But I hope that he comes out of there healthy and whole."

Thruda sighed and leaned against him. "Me too, Thorin," she sighed. "Me too."


	20. Chapter 19

Thruda paced back and forth. "He's been in there for a while," she said.

"Fifteen minutes," Thorin corrected. "Relax." She ignored him and kept pacing, keeping her eyes on the door. "Thruda, we haven't heart the dragon wake. There would be no other reason for Bilbo to be dead."

She glared at him but didn't respond. Thorin stopped speaking and stared through the doorway, as well. However, unlike Thruda's concerned expression, his expression was one of cold indifference. Thruda caught his expression and glanced at Balin. The other dwarf nodded, telling her that he had seen it, too.

After a few more minutes, Thruda stopped her pacing. "That's it," she snapped. "I'm going in."

Thorin immediately moved to block the door. "No," he replied coldly. "He will get out of there by himself. I will not have any member of my Company entering the castle until we know the fate of the dragon."

"But this is _Bilbo_ , Thorin!" Thruda protested. "Since when would you leave someone to die without doing everything possible in your power to save them?"

He fixed her with a cold glare. "Gold is involved," he told her. "We need to be careful."

"Do you hear yourself?" Thruda demanded angrily. Just when she had thought that she had forgiven him! "What's gotten into you?" But even as she shouted at him, she knew the answer; the famed gold sickness had claimed Thorin.

The thought calmed her anger somewhat. It wasn't Thorin's fault; he couldn't help it if he got gold sickness. Now it was up to Thruda and the others to cure him of it...

How the hell was she supposed to do that?

Suddenly, they heard a roar from inside the castle. Everyone tensed up, and their eyes went to the doorway. "I'm going in," Thorin told them.

"Me, too," Thruda said. Thorin turned to her with an aggravated look, but she crossed her arms stubbornly. "You're not going in there without me, Thorin. Bilbo's my friend, and I don't want you to get hurt. You're not telling me to stay out here, not if you're going in."

Thorin let out a growl, but it seemed like he knew better than to argue against her, even in his sickened state. "Fine," he snapped. "Everyone else, come inside but don't leave the doorway. Close the door behind you." The dwarves filed in in single file (Thorin first), and Thorin and Thruda went ahead while the others stood tensely in the doorway.

Thruda, even though she knew her way around, let Thorin lead her to the treasure chamber. She had a feeling that Thorin wanted to be the first dwarvish presence to pass through these halls in one hundred and eighty years, and it was his right- he was the king, after all. Now all they needed to do was find him a crown.

After climbing down a few stairs, Thorin pulled Thruda to a stop. Now that the empty halls weren't full of the echoes of their footsteps, Thruda heard small and quick footsteps. She knew who it was immediately- Bilbo. She was about to run out from behind the wall that separated the staircase from the platform leading to the treasure chamber when Thorin stopped her. He stepped out first, and Thruda was right at his heels. They saw Bilbo hurrying to the staircase.

"Do you have it?" Thorin asked Bilbo, eyes cold.

Bilbo, who was panting and looked rather out of breath, gave him a puzzled look. "Do I have what?" he replied. Thruda winced; that wasn't the right answer.

"The Arkenstone, of course!" Thorin roared angrily. His hand went to Orcrist. "Do you have it?"

Thruda reached out and placed her hand gently on Thorin's arm. "Thorin," she murmured quietly. "Calm down. It's important that we get out of here. The dragon's awake."

"Nothing is more important than the Arkenstone!" Thorin shouted, shoving her to the side. Before anyone could react, red light spread from Thruda's staff and surrounded all of them. Thorin and Bilbo looked at her with puzzled faces, clearly asking why they were in a red bubble, but she shrugged. She tried shutting it down, but it didn't work. Thorin tried to walk out, but he bounced off of it as if it were a sponge.

Suddenly they heard heavy footsteps from behind them. They all turned to see a magnificent red dragon walking towards them, sniffing the air. Thruda gulped at the size of Smaug; she was surprised that he had fit through the castle doors when he had first come to take over Erebor.

"Where are you, you thief?!" Smaug shouted. "This is not a time for games! Show yourself!" He took a deep sniff. "I smell a dwarf!" He sniffed again and appeared confused. "And... a hybrid! Half dwarf, half wizard! You have interesting company, Barrel-Rider!"

Thruda shot Bilbo a confused look. "Barrel-Rider?" she hissed. He shrugged.

"Where have you hidden this time, Barrel-Rider?" Smaug demanded. "I cannot see, smell, or hear you! Come out and show yourself!"

For a second, all the three people in the red bubble were confused. They were in a red bubble! How hard was that to miss? And the dragon should have at least _smelt_ them! Then Thruda understood; her magic had somehow sensed the dragon coming and hidden them from it.

"We're safe," she told them in normal volume. "I think my bubble thingy protects us from the dragon. It can't find us if we're in here."

Bilbo gave her a speculative look. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Thruda shrugged. "Fairly sure," she answered. "We can test it." She turned towards Smaug. "Hey, ugly!" she shouted on the top of her lungs. Smaug didn't even flinch.

"I'd say it works," Thorin said. He shoved at the bubble, but it didn't do anything. "Are we able to move this thing? I don't want to sit around here until the dragon leaves."

Thruda clamped her eyes shut in concentration and pictured the bubble moving towards the staircase. It inched forward slowly, and Thruda smiled. "That's how we move it," she told him. "C'mon, let's go."

She moved the bubble forward a bit, but when she did, Smaug's head snapped around and focused on the spot where they had just been. Thruda froze as Smaug walked closer. "I smell you!" he shouted gleefully. "I smell you, Barrel- Rider!" She realized that the bubble only shielded the area that they were in, and that it didn't stop them from smelling. Their scent was still in the area that Thruda had just moved the bubble off of.

Smaug walked towards them, no hurry in his step. Now that he knew where they were, he probably wasn't in any rush to get there. "Shit," Thruda muttered. "Run!" She dropped the bubble and ran as fast as she could to the staircase; she knew that the bubble wasn't going to protect them anymore. Thorin and Bilbo were at her heels. Smaug took off after them and took a deep breath. Thruda knew what that meant; fire.

"Look out!" Thorin shouted, and Thruda turned to see fire coming out of the dragon's open mouth. Thorin tackled her to the ground as the fire shot over their heads. If Thruda had still been standing, she would have been incinerated.

The second the burst of fire was gone, Thorin pulled Thruda up and pushed him ahead of her. Thruda barely had time to make sure that Bilbo was okay before she started running again.

Thruda was only a couple of yards away from the staircase, so she slid the distance. Thorin made it a few seconds after her, and a panting Bilbo eventually made it around the wall to the staircase. "Run, run, run!" Thruda yelled, pushing Thorin and Bilbo ahead of her onto the staircase. They hurried up, and Thruda started running up the staircase after them.

Suddenly she felt a sudden blast of heat and turned to see that Smaug had tried to fry them. However, because of the angle of the wall, the fire wasn't able to reach them. Thruda was grateful for the wall... until it was cracked by a giant dragon tail.

Thorin and Bilbo ducked, but Thruda's magic acted up. It formed a red shield in front of her, like it had when the Company had watched the battling stone giants, and the debris bounced off of the shield. It saved her from being crushed, but it brought Smaug's attention to her.

"Who are you, female?" he asked, cold eyes staring at her and making her insides turn cold with fear. "I know that you are the hybrid. What is your name?"

Thruda's eyes widened. "Uhh... why should I tell you?" she asked. "I mean, uh, what does it mean to you? You, oh mighty Smaug, surely don't need to know the name of a lowly hybrid like me."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Smaug said. "Hybrids are extremely powerful individuals. They possess qualities from two different races. I'm very fascinated about that."

Thruda normally would have said something to get the dragon aggravated, but there was something in his voice that made her feel bad for him. It sounded like he was... wistful. "Why?" she asked him, gesturing with her eyes for Thorin and Bilbo to go ahead of her. It seemed like they would protest, but after sending them a glare, they went up the staircase. "Why are you fascinated with people like me?"

Smaug looked her in the eye. "I'm intelligent as well as terrible," he told her in a tone that said that she should have come up with that answer herself. "I want to experience other races, Hybrid. And hybrids get to do that."

For a few seconds, Thruda was speechless. Did she really get to experience two different races? She had spent so much time shunning her wizard side of her that she didn't really get to experience their lifestyle. Was it richer than how the dwarves lived? Would she enjoy the way that the wizards lived? She had recently told Thorin that she enjoyed freedom. Would she get it if she lived like the wizards, like Gandalf?

Thruda shook her head to clear it. "I don't care if you're fascinated with me or not!" she shouted. "You took my home! You just tried to kill me five seconds ago! I'm not going to just forget that!" She pointed her staff at Smaug. Something flew out of its tip and hit the dragon in the face, causing it to blink and jerk backwards. Thruda didn't hesitate and quickly scrambled up the staircase.

" _Thorin,_ _where_ _are_ _you?_ " she asked, using the power of the necklace that he had given her. She realized that she hadn't used it for a while. " _I_ _got_ _away_ _from_ _the_ _dragon_.

She felt him send a powerful wave of relief to her. " _Thank_ _Durin_ ," he said. " _Bilbo_ _and_ _I_ _met_ _up_ _with_ _the_ _others._ _We're_ _going_ _to_ _the_ _forges._ "  
Thruda frowned. " _The_ _forges?_ _Why?_ _They're_ _been_ _dead_ _for_ _years;_ _you're_ _not_ _going_ _to_ _be_ _able_ _to_ _do_ _anything_ _besides_ _get_ _trapped and killed there!_ " Thruda replied. He was about to reply when she heard an enraged roar and the sound of cracking stone from behind her. " _The_ _dragon's_ _behind_ _me!_ "

" _Good_ ," Thorin said. Good?! She was about to turn into a piece of well done dwarf meat and he thought that that was good?! " _Now we know where he is. Just... uh... keep him away from the forges until I tell you to bring him here!"_

Thruda sighed and turned around, staff in both hands. "Hey, nuthead!" she shouted. "I'm over here! Come get me!" She heard Smaug moving in her direction, and she made an arc of fire in the air. "I'm over here!"

She ran down a hallway that she knew would head as far away from the forges as she could. Smaug was behind her, moving at a fast pace to keep her in sight as she scrambled through doors and into different rooms. After a few minutes, she pushed through a set of large but plain doors, but after taking a quick glance around the room, she froze.

The room was a dead end.

Smaug rammed through the doors and stopped when he saw that she was trapped. "You're at my mercy now, Hybrid!" he told her victoriously. "You can't go anywhere!"

"Oh, yes, I can," she muttered, drawing her staff. "I can walk straight over your dead body, Smaug."

His eyes narrowed at the threat, but Thruda didn't even hesitate. She shot another of those things that she had shot at him earlier, and Smaug flinched away before it even hit him. Thruda assumed that it had really hurt and that he didn't want to feel the pain of it again, even though he (and Thruda) had no clue what it actually was.

Before Thruda could even react, Smaug blew out a small but concentrated jet of fire. Thruda could feel the heat coming from it before it even came close to her. However, when it reached her, it disappeared completely. She thanked her magical powers (she was assuming that that was what had made the fire disappear before hitting her) and ducked as Smaug shot another jet of fire at her. Didn't he learn that those things didn't work?

"Smaug the Ugly!" she taunted from behind a fallen pillar of stone. The stone was the only reason she was so daring right now. "Smaug the Clumsy! See if you can get me!" The dragon let out an angry roar and let out a long and powerful breath of fire. Thruda called up water with her staff and dumped it on the fire, causing it to sizzle and steam. She used the steam as cover and slipped out of the room, right between Smaug's feet and under his belly. "Come after me, you dumb beast!"

If the dragon had been angry at the first few taunts, the last one did it. Smaug spread his wings and launched himself after her, going more than double the speeds he had been moving before. Thruda realized that he had just been playing with her earlier. Now he was out for the kill.

" _Are you guys ready yet?!"_ she thought angrily to Thorin.

He was instantly there in her head. " _Give us five more minutes_ ," he told her. " _Just five_."

Thruda winced as the dragon crashed through a wall. " _I can't keep him here for five minutes!"_ she replied as she ducked a jet of flame that was directed at her. " _He's not in a good mood!_ "

Thorin sighed. " _What did you say to him?_ " he asked.

" _That he was ugly, clumsy, and a dumb beast. Don't you have something better to do than ask about my recent conversation with a dragon that's about to kill me?"_ she shouted. He didn't reply, and Thruda turned into a dusty hallway. If she was right, this would lead him to the feast room. That wasn't as far away from the forges as she would like, but it was far away enough. At least she could give Thorin a few minutes' warning if the dragon got away from her.

Thruda wildly shot another ball of magic behind her. She didn't know if it was going to hit Smaug, but if it was close enough to him, she was pretty sure that he would flinch away. That would give her a few more seconds to use to get farther away from Smaug.

" _We're ready_!" Thorin said triumphantly, obviously expecting Thruda to be pleased.

But she wasn't. " _You have the_ worst _timing ever!_ " she shouted at him. " _I just trapped myself in the feast room! Now I have to run all the way across the castle!_ And _get around the dragon!_ "

" _Sorry?_ " he replied meekly.

Thruda ignored him and slid under one of the old tables in the feast room. Smaug entered the room a few seconds later. "Where are you, Hybrid?" he demanded. "I can smell you!"

"Didn't you say that already?" Thruda yelled. "What are you, a broken record?!" She crawled under the tables to get closer to the door. "You have to get a bit more creative than that, genius!"

Smaug growled, and she saw him about to shoot fire at the area that she was in. Thruda quickly created another protective shield, and when the fire came, it went around her shield.

Unfortunately, it also destroyed her cover.

The dragon saw her now, and his eyes were angry. "You're mine now, Hybrid," he said.

"My name," Thruda told him angrily, "is Thruda." For a second Smaug seemed to be startled that she had actually told her his name. "Oh yeah, I told you my name. Don't expect me to be all scared of you just because you're a dragon. You're just as mortal as the rest of us!"

Smaug let out a snarl. "I am not mortal!" he shouted. "I am a dragon!" He let out another blast of fire, and Thruda ran for the exit with her shield facing the fire. She was able to get past Smaug and headed towards the forges.

She burst into the room to see all the dwarves attempting to start the forges. However, they needed a big blast of fire to get the old forges working. "We need fire!" Thorin told her.

"I think I got that!" she replied, taking aim with her staff and mustering the strongest blast of fire that she could get. The forges heated automatically, and after a few seconds, molten gold started flowing. Before anyone could even cheer, Smaug entered the forges. "Crap," Thruda muttered.

However, the dwarves seemed to have a plan. Chaos erupted, and the dwarves threw some exploding canisters at Smaug. Smaug hissed and stepped forward towards Thorin, who was standing with his sword out. Thruda watched in horror as he seemingly prepared to take on Smaug with nothing but his sword. But then he glanced to Smaug's side, and Thruda followed his glance to see Bilbo standing by a lever. Bilbo jumped up to grab the lever and pulled it down, causing a strong gust of water to shoot out of the wall. It hit Smaug in the side and sent him falling to his side.

Thorin grabbed a wheelbarrow and ran towards one of the rivers of molten gold. "What are you doing?!" Thruda shouted as he launched the wheelbarrow into the gold and landed on top of it.

"Lead him to the room with the golden statue of the king!" he told her. "Trust me!"

Thruda speculatively turned from Thorin to Smaug, who looked a bit like a drenched cat. "Hey, how did you like the water?" she called, not knowing what exactly to say. "Did you have a nice bath?"

"You!" Smaug roared, turning to her. "You brought me here!" He sped towards Thruda, who instantly turned tail and left the forge. She knew the room that Thorin was talking about, and it was fairly close to the forges. It shouldn't take her much to bring Smaug there.

She sped up as she ran down a flight of stairs. "Yeah, that was all me!" she told him. "I thought that you smelled horrible after one hundred and eighty years and decided to do you a favor and give you a bath!" Smaug let out a jet of fire, and Thruda, instead of forming a shield, controlled the fire and turned it around so that it flew towards Smaug. However, being fireproof, it didn't do much but make him even more ticked off.

" _I'm almost there. You ready?_ " she asked Thorin.

" _I'm ready_ ," he answered.

Thruda turned the last corner. Now all she needed to do was to sprint about one hundred yards to get to the doors that led towards the room with the statue of the king. But she was getting tired; she had ran around the castle like a chicken without a head and used more magic than she ever had in her whole life in about an hour.

An idea came to her. It would probably get her killed, but it was an idea.

Smaug turned the corner, skidding as he did. He caught sight of Thruda and growled. Just as she had predicted, he shot a burst of fire out at her. Thruda controlled the fire again and turned it into a giant bridle that floated in midair. Smaug, rage forgotten in his curiousness, stepped forward and nudged it with his nose.

Grinning, Thruda slid the bridle onto his snout.

The dragon let out a howl and tried to shake the bridle off, but Thruda didn't let him. She used strong gusts of wind to get up on his back, and she took the reins of the bridle. Because of her magic, she didn't get burnt in contact with it. "Let me go!" Smaug howled. "Let me go!"

"Fat chance!" she retorted. Smaug stumbled forward, and she tried to turn him towards the doors that she wanted. However, he fought back and reared. It reminded Thruda a bit of a rodeo as she clung to Smaug's back and moved him, slowly but surely, towards the doors she wanted.

When they were close enough, Thruda used her magic to throw the doors open. She let the bridle disappear but kept a firm grip on Smaug. The dragon, relieved at being free, ran forward and into the room, not even thinking what was going to be in there. When Thruda thought about it, she realized that she didn't know, either."

"You will die in gold, Smaug!" she heard Thorin shout. She turned to see him uncover the tall golden statue of King Thror. Smaug stared in wonder, but then it looked like the statue exploded. Large heaps of molten gold fell on Smaug, covering him. Only until it was too late did Thorin realize that someone had been on Smaug's back and was now being buried with him. "No, Thruda!" Thorin yelled, but it was too late. Smaug was in the middle of a rapidly cooling pool of gold. There was no way that Thruda could have survived.

The rest of the Company walked towards Thorin. They all gathered around him and muttered words of condolences as he stared in disbelief at the pool of gold. She couldn't be dead; she was always so full of life and daring. Thorin almost smiled at the memory of her talking to Azog the Defiler, calling him the Filer and asking him who he was. There was no way that all that could be... gone.

"She killed the dragon, lad," Balin said sadly, patting Thorin's back. "We're all going to miss her, but she died for a good cause."

Bilbo, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili were all almost distraught as Thorin was. They had been the ones that had been closest to Thruda, the ones who she had warmed most with her presence. They would be the ones who would never forget her and hold her memory close to their hearts.

Suddenly, the pool of gold exploded, and Smaug came flying out, covered in gold. "I will make you pay, dwarves!" he shouted. "'Barrel-Rider!' I know where you came from! You had help from Lake- town! They will be reminded who is King Under the Mountain!" Then he flew out of the castle and towards Lake-town, the gold falling off of him as he went.

"Did you see that?" Dwalin demanded as Smaug flew away.

Thorin looked at him curiously. "What?" he asked.

"She was clinging onto Smaug's back!"


End file.
